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History

Why Did It Happen?

Overview

Children explore simple cause-and-consequence chains, starting with everyday examples before moving to historical ones.

Learning Objective
Children understand that events in history have causes and consequences and can identify simple examples.

Resources needed

  • None

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Start with a simple everyday example: 'It rained heavily. The river flooded. People's homes were damaged.'
  2. 2 Ask: what caused the flood? What was the consequence?
  3. 3 Introduce the words cause and consequence.
  4. 4 Give a simple historical example: 'A long dry period caused crops to fail. People were hungry and moved to find food.'
  5. 5 Ask: what was the cause? What were the consequences?
  6. 6 Children suggest their own cause-and-consequence pairs from daily life.
  7. 7 Discuss: can one cause have more than one consequence?

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Draw a simple arrow diagram: cause → event → consequence.
  • Use a local historical event as the example.
  • Add a second step: consequence becomes a new cause.
More information

Teach: cause, consequence, because, so, as a result, led to. The sentence frame 'X happened because... and as a result...' structures the thinking clearly.

Use only everyday examples if historical ones are too abstract. The causal thinking skill is the same.

Can children identify the cause and consequence in a simple example without prompting? Can they explain the connection between them?

No materials needed. Entirely oral with examples from local knowledge.

Children often confuse cause with consequence or say things happened 'by accident'. Help them see that most historical events have identifiable reasons.

Cause and consequence is one of the six key historical concepts. Introducing it early through simple chains prepares children for complex historical analysis later.

Activity details
Primary Medium 20 minutes no prep Whole Class, Small Group Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Cause And Consequence Historical Thinking Reasoning