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Watch: Children in the 1930s

Find out what life was like for children in the 1930s.

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What was school like?

Lucy Pointing
  • In the 1930s most children began school when they were 5 and finished when they were 14.

  • Many skipped classes to help at home with younger brothers or sisters.

  • There were often up to fifty children in a class.

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Family life in the 1930s

Children playing hopscotch in 1930s.
  • In the 1930s, many adults worked long hours in factories, with no paid holidays.

  • Houses were damp and cold with no electricity. Toilets were outside.

  • Many children did not eat fresh vegetables or fruit and got ill.

  • Children played together in the streets and walked to school.

Children playing hopscotch in 1930s.
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What entertainment was there for children?

BOY PLAYING WITH WOODEN PLANE
  • Children read a lot of magazines and books.

  • Mary Poppins, The Hobbit and Peter Rabbit were favourite books.

  • They did not have holidays abroad. If they were lucky they went to the seaside once a year.

  • Most homes in Britain had a radio but not a television.

BOY PLAYING WITH WOODEN PLANE
Shirley Temple.
Image caption,
Shirley Temple.
  • Many children went to the cinema at the weekends.
  • One of the most famous film stars of the 1930s was a child. Her name was Shirley Temple.
  • Shirley Temple made her first film when she was only three years old.
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What games did children play?

Schoolchildren playing marbles in the playground
Image caption,
Schoolchildren playing marbles in the playground
Young girls playing jump rope in 1930.
  • Most children played in the streets as there were not many cars.

  • Marbles, hopscotch, skipping and football were popular games.

  • In summer, cricket was played in the streets or on village greens.

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Did you know?

  • In the 1930s they had no antibiotics to cure diseases and infections.
  • They did not have a vaccine to stop measles or flu spreading.
  • People had to isolate and stay away from others because there was no cure, just as we did with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Activities

Activity 1: Children in the 1930s quiz

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Activity 2: 1930s colouring sheet

Download and print this colouring sheet of Lucy, Nathan and Gigi in the 1930s. Can you colour it in and label all the items that Gigi and her friends used to play with?

Download the 1930s colouring sheet here.

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Play Bitesize Primary games. game

Fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art and design, computing and modern languages.

Play Bitesize Primary games
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