Many of us would’ve taken history lessons in school or college, but wondered to ourselves, “How can I make this more interesting?” Often, schools teach history by simply reading out loud from textbooks, which isn’t usually an effective way to learn. However, it is easy to make history come alive for students and teachers alike. From history-based songs to art and craft, you simply have to find alternative ways of learning the historical information that best suits your learning style. With that in mind, here are four fun ways to learn history.
Learning History with Art
Visual and tactile learners may enjoy learning history through art. Art projects enable people to express creativity while applying your historical knowledge. For example, undertaking art projects like constructing accurate replicas of historical sites helps you learn about the site, the important events that took place there, and what the culture of the time was like.
You can even turn your art project into a nature appreciation session if you go outside to look for materials! For instance, you can take a walk around your neighborhood to look for plants and rocks to crush to make natural paint.
Learning History with Movies and Documentaries
Historical movies and documentaries are another great option to make history come alive, particularly for visual learners. You can pick any documentary or film about the time period you are studying, and then simply sit down to enjoy it. These movies and documentaries can help you have a better picture of what daily life looked like for that particular community in the past.
Not only that, but this form of learning history can spark some insightful and interesting discussions among your family and friends. This is especially so if you watched a movie that happens to be a dramatization of certain events – why not get together and discuss how accurate the movie is compared to the actual events?
Learning History through Culture
Sometimes, the best way to learn something is to experience it for yourself. Instead of just reading about different time periods and cultures from textbooks, why not live through it for a bit? For instance, if you’re learning about Ancient Rome, you can decorate your home or classroom to resemble a Roman forum, complete with marketplace stands, traditional food, toga costumes, and more.
Learning History with Music
This is a great option to bring history to life, particularly among young people. You can learn a lot about history and the people living in a certain civilization simply based on the music they played or listened to. You can use music to learn history by listening to traditional songs and instruments of that era, trying to come up with your own song, or even listening to modern pop and rap songs about historical events. By setting important history facts to music, you can retain information better because you can pick up the historical information as quickly as you would song lyrics.
With any combination of the above four fun ways to learn history, you’ll now feel as if historical figures are popping out of the pages of your history textbook! We hope you’ll try these out some day.