Time spans greater than the length of our lifetimes are difficult for us to understand. Special attention needs to be given to such concepts. Here are some ideas.

1. Draw a birthday candle on a sheet of paper. Run one hundred copies of the candle. Place the sheets of paper on the floor in a long line. Help children visualize in this manner that a century is one hundred years long. When countries, cities, counties, states, places of business, churches, or schools celebrate a centennial it means that they are one hundred years old. Let the children count backwards from the last candle the number of years representing their age. By standing next to this candle they can compare their lifetime to the span of one hundred years.

2. Make a booklet with one hundred pages. Write the date for the present year on the last page. Write numerals for all preceding years on the other pages. Write descriptions of events which took place on appropriate pages. Draw or paste illustrations into the book.

3. Find a large tree stump on which you can count the rings. How close to being one hundred years old was the tree?

1. Examine newspapers or magazines published one-hundred years ago.

2. Find out which of your relatives was born close to a century ago.

3. Study something of interest to you to see what it was like a century ago. (Transportation, clothing, toys, etc.).

4. Look at videos showing what life was like a century ago.

5. Examine music written one-hundred years ago.

6. Find plants that are a century old. Examine photographs of the area in which the plants grew one-hundred years ago.

7. Talk to someone who is near one-hundred years of age.

8. Examine styles of clothing worn a century ago.

9. Make a collection of all the events which can be found that happened a century ago.

Children have difficulty placing dates in their proper centuries. One idea to help children is given here. Help them by marking off twenty centuries on a time line. Write the name of the century under each space. Then ask the children to place dates of important events they want to remember above the time line. Children can share their event by using both the date and the century. (Example: In 1492 or near the end of the fifteenth century Columbus came to America.)