The Time Travelling Detective Agency

The Time Travelling Detective Agency sends special agents back through time to collect interesting artefacts to learn about our past – and we need your help! Join our agents in an object-led, play-based workshop exploring changes in living memory, comparing two distinct eras: the 1970s and the 1990s.

Students will lose themselves in immersive sets for each decade, filled with household items, functional toys and gadgets, costume and scent. Working in small teams and supported by school staff, they are given missions to learn about our recent past through a series of games and challenges with artefact handling at their core.

Session aim

• Compare the differences in household items between two decades in living memory, the 1970s and the 1990s.

Session objectives

• Examine historical objects through handling and role play to determine their uses.
• Classify historical objects based off size, material, colour, shape or use. Explore new ways of classifying objects.

Curriculum links (Department for Education)

• History: “Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day…”
• History: “Changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life.”
• History: “Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.”