All Work and No Play

Part One

Look carefully at the mystery document and think about what you can see. You might have printed it out so you can circle things you see. Or you can write or draw your ideas.

Part Two

Well done for managing to spot so many details.

Now have a go at answering these questions:

• What is this document? (With printed writing, handwriting and numbers).
• What do the numbers mean?
• What century was this document made in?
• Who is it about?

Part Three

Well done for beginning to suggest what this document tells us about the past.

Have a go at answering these questions and click on Part Four when you are ready:

• Who filled in this form?
• What work are these people doing? Why are they working different hours?
• How old do you think they are?
• Why are Friday and Saturday blank?

Part Four

Well done for discovering so much about this document!

Have a go at investigating children’s lives in the 19^th century by exploring more documents and trying out our activities.

Additional document to investigate:

Look closely at these documents:

• What is this document?
• What does it reveal about whether it was ‘all work and no play’ for children?
• Do you think all children in the 19^th had the same amount of fun? If not- why not?

Follow-up activities:

• Write a letter to one of the children working in the cotton mill. You can tell them about your daily life. What questions would you want to ask them? What would you want to know about their lives?

• Design your own 19^th century style board game. Look at these examples for inspiration. For instance you could copy the Obstacle Game and come up you’re your own ideas for obstacles that slow the player down!