World War 2 Workshop

Established in 2003, Black Knight Historical provides a World War 2 school workshop along with many different historical workshops. Workshops suitable for Early Years, Key Stage 1 ,2 and 3, learning in the Classroom.

Our owner, Ian – with 25 years experience, and presenter Molly – a trained historical costumier, wear real, historically correct, clothes and bring a vast number of well researched, historical objects, artefacts and props to make your history day a WOW, tactile and immersive experience for students of all ages.

We are proud to present our superb World War 2 activities for your school.

A typical day will introduce 2 characters from the War, although we can happily provide more or less as required.   We encourage children to come dressed up in ’40s attire, not forgetting their gas masks!

On the day your children will meet:

Billy Spicer – an Air Raid Warden
Molly Stringer – a housewife and member of the Women’s Voluntary Service [WVS].

We provide individual background character sheets for every student for exploration of various World War 2 topics. [over 30 unique A4 character cards,  all different, with 1930’s names and incorporating a WW2 detective game]. This assumes the children are actual ‘evacuees’.

As is usual with Black Knight school workshops, we start the day by surprising all the students in Assembly, and outlining the plans for the day.

The day unfolds after listening to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s speech declaring war against Germany, Sept 1939, on a period wireless set, and identifying the enemies flag.  We explore the reasons behind the conflict: ‘Life on the ‘Home Front’; ‘Adolf Hitler’s rise to power’; ‘What does NAZI mean?’; ‘Who was Winston Churchill?’; ‘What was Blitzkrieg?’; ‘Identifying friend and foe’; ‘Medical treatments’; ‘Life during the Blitz’; ‘Rationing’; ‘Air Raid procedures’; ‘Technological advancements during the war’; ‘The Final Solution’.

All with hundreds of artefacts, roleplay, and mystery object identification.  A truly memorable day! Children also learn about Imperial Weights and measures- Miles, Ounces, Gallons and much more!

We end the day with our very special ‘Home Guard Training Course’.