MuseumFromHome: Victorians

The Victorians lived over 150 years ago during the reign of Queen Victoria, who ruled for 64 years from 1837 to 1901.

At this time, Britain became the most powerful and richest country, in the world, with the largest empire that had ever existed, ruling a quarter of the world's population. With these changes and expansions, the Victorian era was a time of huge change in the lives of British people.

In 1837 most people lived in villages and worked on the land; by 1901, most lived in towns and worked in offices, shops and factories. The population of Britain also more than doubled at this time from 16 to 37 million people which caused a huge demand for food, clothing and housing. This meant factories and machines were built to fulfill the needs of a growing population, but also meant many changes to the way in which people lived and worked too.

Life was also very different for children in the Victorian era & in today's #MuseumFromHome we'll learn more about their lives at work and at play!

Join us over on Facebook too as we make some fun Victorian toys!

Victorian crafts!

The toys Victorian children played with depended on if they were from rich or poor families. Rich children had lots of toys to play with, but poor children rarely had any toys at all!

Learn more about the different types here & then have a go a writing a diary entry to describe your day as a Victorian child and a child in 2020!

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Life for poor Victorian children often included a lot of hard work! Learn about the the different jobs Victorian children did and how little they were paid - what job do you think you might do? Remember to write about it in your diary entry!

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Visual illusions were popular in the Victorian era and used in toys like zoetropes and thaumatropes (remember you can have a go at making your own in our craft video!) Victorians also used light and shadow to make silhouette portraits too - learn all about them below and then see how you can use shadows to make your own visual illusions!

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