8 year old newly fascinated by history- where to go after Horrible Histories?

[ChocolateCrispsTea]

One benefit of lockdown was DS discovering Horrible Histories! He particularly likes the Egyptians, the Greeks and WW2.

My 10 year old watched a short series on BBC 2 this week called Britains Biggest Dig. Its about the excavation of two Georgian/Victorian cemeteries to make way for HS2. He also likes Drain the Oceans which tells the story of ship wrecks/sinkings, and there is a series on Channel 4 player about a man who restores a tank then a Spitfire.

I've been watching old episodes of Time Team on youtube recently, he might like that. I used to love watching it with my family from the age of about 5.

DS2 also loves Drain the Oceans. There's some good stuff on Disney Plus too.

There's an American podcast called The Past and the Curious which my son really enjoys (he's eight).

We also watched a few episodes of Time Team in lockdown, there are a couple of episodes related to crashed WW2 planes, again I think they are online on All4.

Tudor Monastery Farm, Wartime Farm and all the others.

Time Team.

Any BB4 documentary!

my girl loves history. Anything with Lucy worsley she loves. She also likes period dramas and we talk through the time period.

Thank you!

re. documentaries, especially about the war, how do you deal with the injuries, deaths, horror of war etc? I wouldn't like him reading about the Holocaust just yet, for example.

What about the "Back in time..." series such as Back in Time for Dinner/ Back in time for school etc. Really watchable and interesting.

As a previous poster said 'The back in time for...' series was a favourite of DDs.

There's a similar American show called "Who was?" which was a bit like Horrible Histories I think it's on Netflix, introduce Dd to other famous people like Harriet Tubmen, MLK, Rosa Parks and American presidents which we didn't know much about.

If your DC like the Horrible histories gang then they have also made, Rotten Roman movie, Bill, Ghosts and Yonderland. Yonderland is beyond weird but Dd loved it. She also moved onto Dr Who and enjoys the time travelling ones of those too.

If there were areas in documentaries I wasn't ready for Dd to hear then I just fast forwarded and explained it in a more age appropriate way.

Over simplified on you tube. It’s so good. My DS12 and his mate were sending each other messages full of excitement because a new one just been released about the napoleonic wars. I will be honest and say that as it gets more popular they’re trying harder to be funny , which makes it less funny, but I think they’re brilliant and really engaging. Plus I’ve learnt stuff that somehow I missed in A level history 😁

Oooh, and Victorian Farm, Victorian Pharmacy, Edwardian farm and all those (living history type programmes)

m.youtube.com/channel/UCNIuvl7V8zACPpTmmNIqP2A

Thank you all very much, this is great. I'm so pleased he's got an interest.

Lucy Worsley documentaries are good, Dan Snow has a podcast, there's a podcast called Homeschool histories (it's an edited version of an adult podcast) that's worth checking (bbc sounds, free) and see if you can go to castles, historic dockyards etc.

This is great my 9 year old is a history lover too

BBC iPlayer has a doc on the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb at the moment which looks perfect for a budding Egyptologist.

If he is/could be interested in podcasts, there is a series called The Ancients that has episodes on Rome, Greece, Egypt - and other older civilisations. It’s not tailored to young listeners but he might be fascinated all the same.

There is also the “You’re Dead to Me” podcast - hosted by one of the Horrible Histories people. But listen to the Saturday Morning edits, not the full Friday night versions which are not “family friendly” (but are very funny).

Greg Jenner. Forgot the poor guy’s name.

York Cold War Bunker, its English Heritage. Fantastic day out.

Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries?

Homeschool Histories and You're Dead to Me are both presented by Greg Jenner who is the History guy for Horrible Histories. Radio 4 / BBC Sounds.
I also have a budding historian, and had to visit Richard III in Leicester!

Years ago there was a series with Sue Perkins and Giles Coren where they ate crazy food from different periods, that was really fun! Was it called supersizers? But actually had nice details about the time period

Also use it to learn your own local history ... you'd be surprised, if not amazed what can turn up.

In the past this was what local libraries were perfect for. But now they are history themselves, maybe a local history FB group ?