King Charles III Coronation
Children in Britain have never experienced a coronation before, and are unlikely to have any idea what to expect when King Charles III is crowned – apart from, perhaps, the fact that a beautiful, glittering gold crown will be placed on his head.
There’s a lot more to it than that, of course, but we cannot expect our lickle peeps to understand what’s going on. That said, we can explain it, and make the lead up to the big day a fun learning experience for them. It’s a chance for children and families to do something exciting and enjoyable, and to learn at the same time.
The best way to help our children enjoy the coronation is to use it as an opportunity to tap in to their own interests but we top and tail this explaining the basics about how Charles will be anointed with holy oil, and handed an orb, coronation ring and sceptre, before being crowned with the solid gold jewel-encrusted St Edward’s Crown. We will also be making red, white and blue necklaces, making crowns, dressing up in regal robes allowing children to build on their imaginative role play, finding out how Peppa Pig is celebrating and we will be having our own tea party too!
Children will certainly have a grasp of the occasion, so for us it’s about tapping into their lived experiences and what it means to them at home. A lot of families will be planning events over the bank holiday weekend, and our children may be going to street parties, so we will be talking about what’s happening in their lives, following their interests.
It can often be easier for young children to understand pictures and stories, rather than long-winded explanations from teachers so we will tune in to what your lickle ones are asking about the coronation, and use books and pictures to help explain, such as “Who is King Charles? - we will show them photographs and books. This is a great opportunity to learn about kings and queens and a bit of basic history – children will be tapping in to knowledge and understanding of the world, and the coronation is a great way they can start learning about that.
Some of our children will remember we had a Queen and she died, and now we’ve got a King, and that’s when we can get those early history lessons in 😉. Rather than remembering the specifics of the occasion, this is a chance for children to progress in all the areas of learning and development. It will help to build important connections in the brain.
Some children will engage with the occasion, because it’s going to be a bright and colourful event, but they’ll engage with the bits that interest them. For some, it will be the marching bands, the soldiers, and the uniforms, for others, it might be the horses and carriages, or the beautiful dresses and jewellery. Look out for this weeks observations on your child x
