Timeline for kids examples

History is sometimes a hard concept for kids to grasp: not that events happened, but that they happened to real people and that to those people it wasn't history—it was their present. One of the best activities to encourage children to understand the idea of being part of history is to help them create My Life Timelines depicting their history and accomplishments.

Note: Children who were adopted might find this activity a little difficult, but there are ways to adapt it to make it more general. Instead of focusing on everything that happened since your child was born, consider using less specific terms, such as "past" and "present." That way your child can decide what events in his past are important to him without feeling pressured to know the details of what happened before he was adopted.

What Your Child Will Learn

Your child will get a sense of historical perspective while practicing sequencing and expository writing skills.

Materials

Collect these materials before you and your child get started:

• A roll of butcher paper or pieces of paper taped together to create a strip 6 to 10 feet long
• Pencils, a ruler, and markers
• Scissors
• Glue or tape
• Index cards
• Photos commemorating events of your child’s lifetime. (They don’t have to be big events, just a selection of photos that span the child's life.)

Starting a Timeline

Here are the steps to get the project off the ground:

1. Provide your child with index cards and ask her to help you think about moments in life that are most important or memorable to her. Have her write her date of birth on an index card. Tell her what day of the week she was born on and the time if you know it, and ask her to add that information to the index card. Then, have her label the card with a phrase such as "Today, I was born!"
2. Challenge her to think of other days in her life that were important in her personal history. Prompt her to think about things