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What Is A Timeline For Kids?

Timelines are essential for illustrating activities or events in chronological order. These can be used for event planning, research, and studies. 

What Is A Timeline For Kids?

Students can use timelines to help understand historical events and any subjects that take place in an orderly manner. 

Plus, they can be used during research to keep track of different intervals between discoveries and experiments. 

Therefore, timelines are extremely important to learn about, especially at a young age. 

With this in mind, this article will explore everything you need to know about times, including what they are and how you can implement them into your classes for children. 

Let’s get started. 

What Is A Timeline?

A timeline is a tool used to visualize specific sequences or events chronologically. Generally, they are presented in a visual display using a line.

Here, the different events and passing of time are dotted along the line depending on the order that they occurred. 

The event is then labeled with the date it took place – helping the student understand how much time has passed in history. 

Typically, timelines have a specific focus and follow a particular history. For instance, this could include the history of an idea, place, practice, or even person. 

Timelines are used to present history in a visible and accessible method – allowing the student to understand how a particular event took the order and how it influenced history. 

Using Timelines In Education

Timelines In Education

When it comes to writing and reading timelines, you can learn a lot from them. 

Below, we have outlined some different ways you can implement timelines into your classroom to support your student’s learning. 

Focus On A Topic They Are Learning

Depending on what topic you are currently teaching, your student can build a timeline on the topic they’re learning. This can be transformed into an eye-catching display.

Here, all you have to do is assign your students to small groups so they can research and build a collective timeline.

You can provide your students with all the creative freedom to express their ideas clearly while learning about history. 

Create Your Own Timelines

Your students can have a go at mapping out the events of their life by using a timeline. Here, the starting point can be when they were born.

The focus of the timeline can be on whatever they like. For instance, sharing milestones or meaningful moments in their life.

This is a great way for students and teachers to get to know each other better – creating a better relationship between student and teacher. 

Individual Timelines As Research Projects

You can assign your students a task to create individual timelines for research projects.

Whether they are learning about a particular event in history, tracking the progress of an idea, or creating a biography of a specific person, timelines can make for a great project.

Here, your students have to collect information and reduce it to the most informative moments – encouraging them to reflect on history. 

Different Types Of Timelines

Below, we have outlined some of the different types of timelines you can implement in your teaching. These are just a few different methods, they are so much more! 

With the help of these different timelines, you are sure to be able to teach your students in a fun and engaging way. 

1. Biological Timeline

You can use biological timelines the dissect particular key events in someone’s life. This person could be a historical figure, such as Abraham Lincoln, or a missionary like Hudson Tayor, or it could even be a family member! 

In addition to this, your students could also create an autobiographical timeline. This could include their birth date, their sibling’s birthday, the time you moved house, or any other significant event if their life. 

2. Historical Events 

One of the first timelines that come to mind is probably a historical event timeline. For instance, you could be learning about the Revolutionary War, in such case, your timeline will start at the Boston Tea Party in 1773. 

Although, you could include the conclusion of the Indian and French War in 1763 which will motivate your students to look at a cause-and-effect relationship. 

Plus, you can also use a historical timeline to look at events taking place in the Bible. For young children, the days of creation make for a simple timeline. 

Alternatively, you can also choose to make a timeline about the Bible with slightly older children. Here, you can start with the kings of Isreal and Judah, looking at whether or not they pleased God, as well as the concurrent prophets. 

Another timeline you can follow is Bible 7: Story of the Old Testament. Here, you can gain tons of information from different books of the Old Testament and seek relationships. 

One notable distinction your students can make is the lack of good kings from the Northern Kingdom of Isreal and how this may have influenced its earlier captivity. 

3. World History Timeline

One of the broadest examples you can use is a timeline depicting world history. This could include a significant moment that happened in history, whether learned in science, history, or any other class. 

One way you can implement this type of timeline is by making it an ongoing project. If you’re teaching more than one student, then they can get together to work on this project. 

There are no limits when it comes to a timeline of the world (other than the size of the paper or a wall). When possible, make sure your students include primary sources of history. 

Final Thoughts

Timelines are a great way to depict a particular event that happened in history in a clear and visible way. 

There are tons of different uses for timelines, including historical, biographical, and following a specific event. 

Hopefully, this guide has informed you about everything you need to know about timelines for kids.

Simon Lewis

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