First World War Comic

Learn about the war effort at home and abroad and how it changed British society

This primary resource explores some of the significant events of the First World War and what life was like for soldiers, women and children. Discover how WWI changed society in Britain at the time with this light-hearted comic strip. How did women’s roles change during the First World War? What was ‘conscription’? What job did pigeons carry out during the War?

Pupils will learn about the war effort at home and abroad and how it changed British society in our National Geographic Kids’ History primary resource sheet.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for a simple overview of World War I. It can be used as a printed handout for each pupil to read themselves, or for display on the interactive whiteboard, as part of a whole class reading exercise.

Activity: Ask the children to choose one of the areas of World War I discussed in the comic (e.g. women at work, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides during the War, animals used for specific jobs during the War, etc.) and create their own comic strip about this topic. They could use the resource as a starting point for their own research. Pupils could use our First World War primary resource and War Horses: WWI primary resource to help them.

N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: schools@ngkids.co.uk

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following History objectives from the National Curriculum:

Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative

Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales

National Curriculum Key Stage 1 History objective:

Pupils should be taught: significant historical events, people and places in their own locality

National Curriculum Key Stage 2 History objective:

Pupils should be taught a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following Social Studies First level objective from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence:

I can compare aspects of people’s daily lives in the past with my own by using historical evidence or the experience of recreating an historical setting.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Third level Social Studies objective:

I can describe the factors contributing to a major social, political or economic change in the past and can assess the impact on people’s lives.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Fourth level Social Studies objective:

I can describe the main features of conflicting world belief systems in the past and can present informed views on the consequences of such conflict for societies then and since.