Apr 2014
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Learning Resources
I n d u s t ri a
Walk Once a Week
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The Industrial Revolution began in Britain and took place between about 1760 and 1840. It was a time of
massive change. Until the start of the 18th century most people lived in the countryside and worked in farming.
The Industrial Revolution brought new ideas and inventions and changed how people lived and worked.
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Facts about the era
• It changed how things were produced. There was a move away from handmade goods to
making things with machines in factories.
• The textile industry was one of the first to change, with more cloth being made by machine.
• Coal was the fuel which kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Britain had a plentiful supply.
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• In 1761 the first canal was built to transport coal to Manchester. Hundreds of miles of canals were
built to transport materials as it was easier and cheaper to transport them on water than by road.
• In 1829 Robert Stevenson built the first steam train. More and more railways were built to transport
goods and passengers. People were able to travel more quickly allowing them to go further.
• Working conditions in factories were very bad. People worked very long hours, the air was often
polluted and the machinery dangerous. Many people had accidents or were killed at work.
• Children worked long hours doing dangerous jobs in mines and factories. It was not until 1833 that
children under nine were banned from working in textile factories and children under 11 had to
have two hours of education a day.
• Many people moved from the countryside into cities, which were growing very rapidly. This led to
overcrowding in cities and many people lived in appalling living conditions. Often several families
shared a room and most houses did not have indoor toilets or running water. Up to 100 people
might share a water pump and the water was not always clean. This meant that diseases like
cholera, typhoid and dysentery spread rapidly and killed many people.
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2013/14
I n d u s t ri a
Re
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Walk Once a Week
Learning Resources Apr 2014
The changing landscape of towns and cities
vo l
Duration:
Age group:
45 minutes
Most suitable for primary school children aged 7+ (Key Stage 2)
u t io n
Activity description:
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This lesson asks the pupils to think about how the landscape of towns and cities may have changed
during the Industrial Revolution.
In pairs, children can use the internet to research what changes the Industrial Revolution brought to the
landscape of towns and cities.
As a group, ask the children to feed back what changes they may have seen happening to the landscape
of the towns and cities during the Industrial Revolution. Things to consider/discuss with the class:
• Towns and cities began to grow with new factories being built (ask the children to think about large
chimneys covering the skyline and smoke filling the air)
• Transport links to towns and cities changed with new bridges, canals and railways being
built. Roads also improved with new road surfacing techniques and improved drainage,
which reduced journey times and increased the number of coaches on the roads (ask
children to think about how this could have affected pedestrians)
• The population of towns and cities soared as more people moved to work in the newly built
factories. As a result, more and more homes were built and towns and cities became bigger.
Ask the children to pick one aspect of the points discussed above, and draw what they think the
landscape of a town or city would have looked like. Ask the children to write a small paragraph under
the picture explaining what they have drawn.
Resources:
• Drawing materials
Curriculum Variations:
area:
• Children could pretend to be in the midst of
the Industrial Revolution and write a letter
• Art
to a family member describing how the town
• History
or city they live in is changing due to the
• ICT
Industrial Revolution.
• English (Variation)
Copyright © 2014 Living Streets. All rights, including copyright, in the content of this document are owned by Living Streets. Permission is granted to reproduce
this document without adaptation or change for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring and lending is prohibited.
2013/14
I n d u s t ri a
Re
l
Walk Once a Week
Learning Resources Apr 2014
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Travel before and during the Industrial Revolution
Duration:
Age group:
30 minutes
Most suitable for children aged 7+ (Key Stage 2)
u t io n
Activity description:
This lesson asks the pupils to write a travel account of a day in the life of a child living before
the Industrial Revolution.
Discuss with the children how people travelled before the Industrial Revolution and how this
changed during that time.
Things to mention:
• One of the main changes during the Industrial Revolution was in transportation.
• Before the Industrial Revolution (before 1760), modes of transport included: walking, riding horses,
travel by horse-drawn vehicle and sailing ships.
• People didn’t travel very far from home. The roads connecting different areas were dusty in summer
and muddy in winter.
• People wanting to sell things used wagons, pack horses or sailing ships to carry them to market
• The Industrial Revolution (after 1760) changed how people and products travelled with the invention
of canals, tramways, trains, bicycles and steam-powered ships.
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Ask children to imagine themselves as a child before or during the Industrial Revolution. Ask them to
write a travel diary of a typical day.
Resources:
Curriculum
area:
• English
• History
• ICT
Variations:
• Ask children to write two diary entries, one for
a child before the Industrial Revolution and
one for a child during the Industrial Revolution
• Help generate ideas for the diary entry by
conducting a ‘guided visualisation’, where
children listen to you describing a day
travelling during the Industrial Revolution
• Children could illustrate their diary entry
• Children could type up their diary entries on
the computer
Copyright © 2014 Living Streets. All rights, including copyright, in the content of this document are owned by Living Streets. Permission is granted to reproduce
this document without adaptation or change for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring and lending is prohibited.
2013/14
I n d u s t ri a
Re
l
Walk Once a Week
Learning Resources Apr 2014
Amazing Inventions
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A display showing how people travelled during the Industrial Revolution
Duration:
Age group:
30 minutes
Most suitable for children aged under 7 (Key Stage 1)
Activity description:
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This lesson asks the pupils to discover all the different ways people travelled during the Industrial
Revolution. Use this month’s factsheet and the points below to teach pupils how people travelled before
the Industrial Revolution and how this changed during that time.
Things to mention:
• One of the main changes during the Industrial Revolution was in how people travelled.
• Before the Industrial Revolution (before 1760), people travelled by walking, riding horses or
by horse-drawn vehicles or sailing ships.
• Most people didn’t travel very far from home.
• People wanting to sell things used wagons, pack horses or sailing ships to carry them to
market
• The Industrial Revolution (after 1760) changed how people and products travelled with the
invention of canals, tramways, trains, bicycles and steam-powered ships.
Ask children to draw images or build models of the amazing inventions that people used to
travel. Create a display showing the models and images on a backdrop of railways, bridges,
canals and paved roads.
Resources:
• Industrial Revolution
factsheet
• Drawing and / or craft
materials
Curriculum
area:
• English
• History
• ICT
Variations:
• Ask children to ‘invent’ and draw a new type of
machine for making the walk to school safer or
more fun.
Copyright © 2014 Living Streets. All rights, including copyright, in the content of this document are owned by Living Streets. Permission is granted to reproduce
this document without adaptation or change for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring and lending is prohibited.
2013/14
I n d u s t ri a
Re
l
Walk Once a Week
Learning Resources Apr 2014
Mile Mapping to the Mill
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Duration:
Age group:
30 minutes
Most suitable for primary school children aged 7+ (Key Stage 2)
u t io n
Activity description:
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Using the factsheet, talk to your class about what life was like during the Industrial Revolution. Discuss
the kinds of work that people did during this time, including jobs that children did, for example in mills,
coal mines and factories.
Ask children to use books and the Internet to research where their closest coal mine, mill
or factory would have been in their city, town or village during the Industrial Revolution
(1760-1840).
How far is this from their current home address? Use an online mapping tool to help them
find out how far this journey would be.
Ask children to then feed back to the whole group whilst you facilitate a discussion around
the length of journeys people made before and after a hard day’s work. What modes of
transport were available? How have things changed today? Do we travel further or less far?
How do we travel?
Resources:
• Industrial Revolution
factsheet
• Internet access
Curriculum
area:
• History
• Maths
• Geography
Variations:
• Create an annotated map of your city/town/
village, showing the places people worked
during the Industrial Revolution
Copyright © 2014 Living Streets. All rights, including copyright, in the content of this document are owned by Living Streets. Permission is granted to reproduce
this document without adaptation or change for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring and lending is prohibited.
2013/14