Did you know that today is Pretend To Be A Time Traveller Day? It started in 2007 on a social site called Koala Wallop. The original idea was for participants to pretend to be people from an earlier time who have landed in our time and are either fascinated or terrified by the experience. Alternatively, they could pretend they were from our future, and were here to warn us what lay in store. Though not really a kid-thing, there’s no reason kids can’t join in.
One family or classroom time traveller activity might be to have everyone “return” to the twenty-first century and tell them that, in the course of their travels, one of them has changed history. How can be determined ahead of time, either by you, or the kids. (Some examples: Canada, Mexico & the USA are now all one country, in which everyone speaks French; or, Australia is gone – no one knows where, it’s just gone and there’s no record of it ever existing; or, only people of a certain social class are allowed to own computers.) But which traveller is responsible? Have each child recount what he/she did in the past (the era to be his/her own choice), and then, after everyone has spoken, decided who was to blame, and whether or not he/she should go back to fix Time, or leave things as they are.
Some other Time Traveller Day ideas for kids:
- Make a Time Machine out of a large box, barrel, or even a blanket-draped card table.
- Turn an old pocket watch or piece of jewellery into a time travel device.
- Start a time traveller diary. (You can keep this up all year, and read it out to your family on this date next year.)
- Make predictions about something that might happen on this date thirty years from now.
- Dress in clothing from another time (Victorian, Medieval, Roman, etc.) and pretend you have landed in our time. How would you react?
- If you have one in your area, visit a local historic re-creation (a pioneer town or medieval village open air museum).
- Play a time travel related board game. (Dr. Who has several.)
- Watch The Time Machine (1960) on DVD. (Based on the H.G. Wells novel.)
Time Travelling With Kids 