Share This Post:
Have you ever heard students say they are bored while learning about history? How about hearing students talk about not needing to know about the past? Unfortunately, these are typical comments that history teachers face each year. Finding easy ways to teach history can be very tricky. This occurs while teachers tackle a challenge: taking complex or traditionally dry social studies topics and transforming them into lessons students will love.
These need to be simple, fun lessons that will help students understand why it is crucial to learn history. Luckily, these 4 easy ways to teach history without boring your students will transform your classroom.
The Realities of Teaching
There are many standards to teach each year. While some provide natural engagement, others are challenging to plan. This may be trying to explain the intricacies of government or the timeline of ancient civilizations. Some social studies content can feel daunting for our students—and for us!
This is why it is important to work with other teachers to learn new techniques to break down topics. This helps make them digestible and enjoyable for upper elementary students.
4 Easy Ways to Teach History With Powerful Lessons
These 4 easy ways to teach history without boring your students will be the perfect addition to your lessons. They will spice up your activities, naturally increasing student engagement and interest.
1. Use Storytelling to Make Connections
One of my favorite easy ways to teach history is to make complex content fun through storytelling. Every historical event, culture, or government system has a human side to it. By telling it through a story, students can connect to it deeper.
For example, when teaching about the thirteen colonies, instead of focusing on dates and dry facts, I create a story about a day in a child’s life during that time. This is a fantastic hook into the lesson and instantly excites students to learn more.
What did they wear? What games did they play? How did their family spend their day? By asking thought-provoking questions, students are alert, eager to learn, and cannot wait to hear the answers.
2. Use Visuals and Interactive Elements
Students live in a visually-driven world. Between marketing surrounding them and their personal devices, visual elements exist everywhere. If teachers want to incorporate students’ interests in the classroom, visuals and interactive elements are the way to go.
Charts, maps, timelines, and videos can break down complex concepts and make them more engaging. For example, when teaching something like the three branches of government, use a simple, colorful chart to show how they interact and balance each other out. Teachers can also use short video clips from Brainpop to help students visualize the content.
Students need to be active in their learning. By using interactive games, they learn while having fun. For example, teachers can create a class “government” where students take on roles from different branches. This is an amazing and easy way to teach history while bringing learning alive in the classroom!
3. Turn Complex Topics into Hands-On Projects
Another great technique is to use hands-on projects. Allowing students to work with materials or create something based on the topic can make abstract concepts more concrete. For example, when teaching about the history of the free enterprise system in economics, you could create a classroom “marketplace” where students take on the roles of buyers and sellers. Through a fun, interactive simulation, they’ll learn about supply and demand firsthand.
4. Break It Down with Mini-Lessons
Instead of tackling huge, daunting subjects in one go, break them down into mini-lessons. For example, if you teach about the American Revolution, break it into bite-sized lessons. Day 1 could be focused on an introduction to the American Revolution,” Day 2 on the French and Indian War, and so on.
Each mini-lesson is easier to absorb, and the gradual build-up helps students better understand the bigger picture without feeling overwhelmed. Plus, shorter, focused lessons leave more time for discussion and fun activities reinforcing the topic!
Bonus Tip: Connecting to Students
If teachers want students to master standards, lessons need to connect to their interests. Using these four easy ways to teach history is key to ensuring your students feel welcomed and supported in the classroom while learning various content.
Teachers can find ways to connect lessons to students’ personal interests.
If students love sports, teachers can relate concepts like historical trade routes or ancient economic systems to exchanging goods. Think of jerseys, trading cards, or ticket sales to do this.
If they’re into technology, connect discussions about innovation during the Industrial Revolution to modern tech trends. When students see that what they’re learning connects to things they care about, they become more invested in the material.
Transforming complex or dry social studies topics into simple, fun, and memorable lessons is completely doable. Storytelling, hands-on projects, visuals, games, and making connections to modern-day examples and student interests make the trickiest subjects come alive. These 4 easy ways to teach history without boring your students will be incredibly exciting elements to add to your lesson plans!
kirsten hammond
Kirsten is a former 3rd and 5th grade teacher who loves helping upper elementary teachers by creating resources and sharing ideas that are engaging, research-based, and TEKS-aligned. She is a work-from-home mama of 3 rambunctious little ones and loves running, true crime, and lots of coffee.
