Victorian Christmas

Study photographs and handle artefacts to discover what a Victorian Christmas was like for rich and poor. Find out what Queen Victoria had for Christmas dinner. Make a traditional toy and play a parlour game.

This 2hr workshop begins with pupils looking at photographs. Through doing this pupils will gain an understanding of Victorian Christmas traditions, and discover how different it was between the rich and the poor.

Pupils will take part in three activities:

  • Studying Queen Victoria’s Christmas meal menu and comparing this with what poor families would have been eating. Pupils will handle kitchen artefacts and work out how they would have been used to prepare Christmas dinner.
  • Playing with traditional Victorian toys.
  • Making a traditional Victorian toy.                                                          

The workshop will finish off with a traditional parlour game.                                                         

                              

The workshop will focus on

  • What Victorians did to celebrate the festive season.
  • Differences between the rich and the poor.
  • What would have been eaten on Christmas day, and what presents would have been received.
  • How Victorian Christmas traditions have influenced modern celebrations.

Victorian Christmas is a half day workshop but can be combined with Victorian School Days for a full day Victorian experience

 

“The children were very engaged and listened well. The artefacts were interesting and relevant to our learning. The whole morning was enjoyable and informative”

 Y2   St Marie’s Catholic Primary School   Standish