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History

Seasons and Time

Overview

Children explore how seasons repeat each year, building an understanding of cyclical time alongside linear time.

Learning Objective
Children understand that time moves in cycles as well as in a line, using seasons as a concrete example.

Resources needed

  • None

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Ask: what season is it now? What season came before? What will come next?
  2. 2 Discuss: what do you do in each season that you don't do in others?
  3. 3 Ask: did the same seasons happen last year? Will they happen next year?
  4. 4 Introduce: some time is like a line — it keeps going forward. Some time is like a circle — it repeats.
  5. 5 Ask: what else in your life repeats like the seasons? (days of the week, mealtimes, birthdays).
  6. 6 Ask: if seasons repeat, why is this year not exactly the same as last year?
  7. 7 Draw a simple circle with four segments — label each season.

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Connect to farming or planting cycles relevant to the local community.
  • Discuss how different seasons were important to people in the past.
  • Ask grandparents or elders what they did in different seasons when they were young.
More information

Teach: season, cycle, repeat, year, before, next, same, different. The circle diagram makes the cyclical concept visual and memorable.

Focus on two contrasting seasons rather than all four if the local climate is less varied.

Can children name the seasons in order? Do they understand that the same seasons recur each year but that time still moves forward?

No resources needed. Draw a circle in soil with four sections. Entirely oral and discussion-based.

Children sometimes think that because seasons repeat, time itself goes backwards. Help them see that the calendar moves forward even as seasons cycle.

Understanding cyclical time is an important complement to linear chronology. Many cultures have organised time around seasonal cycles — this is a rich cross-cultural concept.

Activity details
Early Years Easy 15 minutes no prep Whole Class Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Time Cyclical Time Seasons