Home › Education › Historicals
Hands on Histories

Historicals

Immersive historical learning experiences take you back in time with fully custom-made experiences.

★★★★★4.9 on Trustpilot · 220+ reviews
Greater London Awards – Best Mobile Planetarium SpecialistsBest Mobile Planetarium Specialists
Greater London Awards
🛡️Enhanced DBS
on the update service
✅Fully insured
certificates with every booking
Learning through doing

Put your pupils inside the past

The focus is on learning through doing. We are here to engage, inspire and wow your students by putting them physically ‘within’ the subject.

We do this with our outstanding activities, storylines and unparalleled resources. Sessions are designed so that knowledge absorption & retention become the valuable by-products of our hands-on, immersive approach.

These workshops encourage different types of interaction and participation so your young people get the very best out of the visit.

Pupils taking part in a history workshop
Our approach

Four ways we bring history to life

🏹

Active & physical

These sessions are almost entirely active, with young people taking part in the historical activity by learning the skill and then doing it.

🎭

Role play & drama

These sessions are fully immersive, with young people acting out set pieces, becoming historical figures and role playing alongside the ‘in-character’ instructors.

⚖️

Compare & contrast

The backbone of these sessions is young people using information and role play to examine differences and similarities both between historical cultures and our modern world.

🧠

Creativity & problem solving

Instructors set the scene and provide props, equipment and resources for young people to explore their own problem-solving and creativity. The outcome is fluid every time!

Sessions

Choose your period

Virtual World War 2 Show

Dressed to kill

Find out what the British Army took into battle in WW2 from its weapons to making a cup of tea! Have a go at some drill in our live session.

Target time!

It’s time for some bayonet and grenade practice at our unfortunate target! Also, going on a bombing raid and then discover how to defuse a bomb…

Fabulous fashion

Who would you meet on a wartime street? Let’s find out why this conflict was called a World War as we look at the countries and armies involved in the story of WW2!

Air Raid Antics

Find out what kept you safe with our warning sound challenge and remember, DON’T FORGET YOUR GAS MASK! as we look at life on the Home Front.

Finally it’s quiz time! Let’s see what you’ve remembered. Sessions last approximately 1h15mins.

World War 1

Including The Trench WW1 experience. Please ask us for details.

Tudors & Elizabethans

Session 1 – Divorced, Decapitated, Died

A comic dramatic presentation of the history of the Tudor Dynasty complete with Kings, Queens and deaths!

Session 2 – Exploration & Expanding Empire

This session looks at the beginning of the Golden Age of Exploration as we seek to crew a ship with the right characters needed for a long hard sea voyage.

Session 3 – Barbaric Battles

With the use of our amazing foam weapons, musket and cannons, students re-enact a famous battle against the Scots as we examine the era where medieval and modern weapons are used on the battlefield.

Session 4 – Trials & Treason

A wonderfully gory and vivid look at Tudor justice and punishments, touching on the Catholic/Protestant unrest, spies and plots and the infamous executions of Catholics.

Session 5 – A Queen’s Tournament

In this finale, we introduce your children to the pageantry, politics and pomp of an Elizabethan tournament as they compete in jousting, swordfighting and heraldic competitions.

Stone Age Man – The Blueprint for Society (KS1–3)

Session 1 – Monumental Achievements

Students examine the period of Henge building and some of the reasons our ancestors built them. They then design their own monument and use prehistoric techniques to build their very own ‘Stonehenge’ in the school playground, field or hall!

Session 2 – Hunter Gatherers

With a range of Stone Age tools and weapons, students try to master a host of skills that enabled our ancestors to survive and thrive in varied environments. From natural cord making to archery and spear skills, this session delivers hands-on learning like no other.

Session 3 – Gods & Nature

This session examines the link between nature and religion as students prepare natural materials for cave painting and ceremonial use and undertake a ritual painting to call the gods for a successful hunt.

Key learning areas

  • Neolithic technology and tools
  • Prehistoric religion and beliefs
  • Basic hunter gatherer skills
  • Everyday Neolithic life
From Stone to Steel: Britain’s Waves of Invasion (KS2–3)

Session 1 – Stone to Steel: Cultural Invasion

An action-packed session introducing the identity of tribe and clan and exploring first contact with a new culture. Students will barter, trade and use diplomacy to understand how cultures like the Celts and the Ancient Britons assimilated.

Session 2 – Assimilate or Conquest: Forced Invasion

This session examines the more forceful and definite face of invasion and how it affected the British tribes. An action-packed session showing how the unified Romans conquered the disparate Celtic tribes.

Session 3 – Belief & Power: Religious Invasion

A fantastic learning opportunity, this session explores the pagan beliefs of the many people of Britain from the Ancient Britons to the Celts, Romans, Vikings, Saxons and Normans and how each evolved to be superseded by Christianity.

Key learning areas

  • Understanding chronology
  • How Britain changed over time and why
  • How invasions shaped Britain
  • Understanding cultural interaction and integration
Roman Britannia: The Last Frontier (KS2–3)

Session 1 – Veni, Vidi, Vici: The Return

This session examines why the Romans came to Britain and compares and contrasts the differences between the Romans and Celtic tribes they met. Your students become the characters in this interactive and comic session.

Session 2 – Rome – The Army Needs You

A two-part completely immersive session where students become army recruits, drill & train, shoot artillery and learn the discipline of Roman legionaries.

Session 3 – Bread & Circuses

One of our signature sessions, with the use of cutting-edge props and scene setting we recreate the mayhem and madness of the Arena and why it played such an important part in the Roman Empire.

Key learning areas

  • The power of the Roman Army
  • Contrasting the Romans and Celts
  • British resistance
  • Rome’s impact on Britain
  • Invasion & conquest
1066 – The Year of 4 Kings (KS2–3)

Session 1 – The Rise of the Godwinssons

This session sets the scene by examining the power vacuum left by Edward the Confessor, the meeting of Harold and William and the failure of Tostig.

Session 2 – The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Students learn to train in the shield wall, Saxon against Viking, re-enact the set piece battle and how the Saxons prepared for battle.

Session 3 – The Battle of Hastings

A full set-piece, costumed and live re-enactment of the battle with all the detail and key turning points acted out by the young people themselves.

Key learning areas

  • The Viking & Saxon struggle
  • The Norman invasion
  • Anglo-Saxon law
  • Anglo-Norman politics
  • Battlefield leadership
Knights, Castles & Chivalry (KS1–3)

Session 1 – Castles & Catapults

Students learn the construction and deployment of castles as they plan, build and test the quality of their own constructions.

Session 2 – Weapons & Warfare

This 2-part session looks at weapons, arms and armour in both close battlefield combat and siege warfare as students can try on, use and shoot our rare range of weaponry.

Session 3 – Courts & Chivalry

A wonderfully diverse session examining the concepts of knightly valour, court etiquette and chivalry. Students enact the process of knighting, tournament competition and courtly rituals.

Key learning areas

  • Changes in social history
  • Development of society in the Middle Ages
  • The castle building era
  • Status and class distinctions
Forces, Physics and Energy: The Science of Ancient Artillery (KS2–3)

Session 1 – Immense Forces

Students compare and contrast how different types of ancient artillery operate and the forces that make them work. Torsion, tension and gravity powered siege machines are used.

Session 2 – Exciting Energy

This session uses a range of artillery weapons to investigate how energy is created, stored and released to produce a devastating end result.

Session 3 – Creative Constructions

This materials-focused session investigates how these siege machines are constructed, what they are made of and why. Students are given the unique opportunity to construct their own siege machines from scratch.

Key learning areas

  • Setting up practical enquiries and comparatives
  • Understanding forces in a practical setting
  • Understanding and application of levers
  • Gathering, recording and presenting data
Prices

School history days

3 sessions available
1 classfrom £495 + VAT
2 classesfrom £595 + VAT
3 classesfrom £795 + VAT
Per session£195 + VAT
The Trench WW1 – half dayfrom £595 + VAT
The Trench WW1 – full dayfrom £695 + VAT

Large outdoor festivals

  • These activities will engage anywhere between 500–700 people per day
  • Each area is fully dressed with medieval tents, flags and banners
  • All instructors are in full medieval costume
  • All activities have an age range of 5+
  • Set up the day before to ensure everything is safety tested
  • Space required: 2 x 20m x 20m areas, ideally barriered off with fencing
  • No power required
  • Have-a-go longbow archery and crossbows
  • Have-a-go ancient artillery
  • 20 min drop-in session, every 40 minutes
  • 30 min drop-in session, up to 4 per day

Costs for this package: £2,500 + VAT per day · £4,000 + VAT for 2 days · weekly and monthly hire available

How it works

From enquiry to lift-off

Enquire

Tell us your date, year groups and numbers. We'll recommend the right experience and package.

Plan your day

We agree your timetable and match sessions to your curriculum topics and SEND needs.

We arrive and set up

Our team sets up, runs every session, then packs everything away.

Keep learning

Follow up with our free teacher resources back in the classroom.

What teachers say

Schools book us again, and again

★★★★★
"Fantastic day, the pupils were amazed and really engaged. Immersive Experiences staff were really helpful both when booking and on the day, I wouldn't hesitate to book again!"
Billie ElliottScience Co-ordinator, Moor Hey School
★★★★★
"The level of questioning from the children always amazes me - an inspiring day for everyone."
Trustpilot reviewMarch 2025
★★★★★
"It was the WOW factor of science week and we will definitely book again!"
Trustpilot reviewMarch 2023
Read all 220+ reviews on Trustpilot →

Documents available on request

Please contact us for:

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Risk Assessments & Method Statements
  • Insurance certificates (public liability, indemnity, employers' liability)
  • Fire Certificate, PAT Certificate
  • Child Protection & Audience Code of Conduct
FAQs

Your questions answered

What are Historicals?

Hands-on, custom-made history workshops that put pupils inside the past.

How do pupils learn in a Historicals session?

Almost entirely by doing: they learn a historical skill and then try it themselves.

Can sessions be tailored to our topic?

Yes. Sessions are fully custom-made around your history topic.

Step back in time at your school

Tell us your period, year groups and number of classes and we’ll plan your history day.