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Our children often attend events with us and to reflect the impact on children we can offer a series of related craft activities and / or educational workshops. These activities are designed to show the conflict as it might have been seen through the eyes of children.
By using our craft activities or educational workshops, your students / event visitors can find out about the evacuation of children, the threat of air raid raids and rationing.
At events our own children play with child safe reproduction games and toys which would of entertained children 60 years ago. We find it fascinating that in an age of computer games and advertised consumerism, making a paper hat out of newspaper can still entertain and engage.
Christmas is always a special time for children and we are often invited to attended wartime Christmas events. In addition to our Christmas themed craft activities we also enjoy playing parlour games.
However being a child in wartime was not without danger. More than one in ten air raid victims was below the age of 16: 7,736 children were killed and 7,622 seriously wounded. A baby 11 hours old was the youngest victim. Many children were orphaned or lost brothers and sisters. In the worst single incident involving children, 38 were killed and 60 injured when a bomb hit a school in Catford in January 1943. (Source Imperial War Museum).
Children also played an active part in the war effort. Children over 16, including Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, helped the ARP services during air raids by acting as messengers, fire watchers, or working with the voluntary services. The work could be highly dangerous and significant numbers were killed while on civil defence duty.
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