Howick Historical Village

Today Room 8 became explorers of an early colonial settlement in Howick and stepped back in time to the mid-1800s. We spent the day learning about what daily life was like for children in 1850, trying out many of the activities they would have experienced in a typical school day. 

We learnt about how the settlers used morse code and flag semaphore to communicate with each other. This was way before phones and the internet were invented. We used this new knowledge to solve some codes and write our names. It was a lot of fun!

Then it was time to head to school. The teacher was very strict! She even had a cane! We learnt that girls were treated very differently to boys in the 1800s. Thank goodness that has changed! We had to solve basic sums using an abacus and write on a slate, using cursive handwriting. Not as easy as it looked!

Finally, we learnt about the games children would play. We had a great time trying them out for ourselves. Did you know that all of the equipment that was played with would have been made by either the children themselves or their parents? How cool is that?

All too soon it was time to go back to school. We all left Howick Historical Village with a big smile on our faces and a new appreciation of the joys and hardships of life as an early European settler in NZ.  What do you think would be the hardest part of living in the 1800s?