Helpers long ago

Ages 3 to 5 Read and do together · about 10 minutes

Read together

Long ago, people lit lamps by hand.

A lamplighter walked each evening and lit the street lamps.

Do it

1. Show pictures of helpers from long ago: a lamplighter, a water carrier, a blacksmith, a town crier.
2. Ask: who does this job now? A lamplighter's job is now done by a switch or a timer. A water carrier's job is done by a tap.
3. Act out one job: carry a bucket of pretend water, or light a pretend lamp with a stick.
4. Say thank you to the helpers in your town today.

Talk about it

• Which old job would you like to try?
• Which helpers do we have today?

For the grown-up

Jobs change over time, as tools change. Before street lamps were electric, lamplighters lit them by hand in many towns. Before taps, many people fetched water from wells and rivers. We can be grateful for people's work, then and now.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Judith Flanders, The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London (Atlantic Books, 2012)
• Ruth Goodman, How to Be a Victorian (Viking, 2013)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.