What have Shirley Temple, Joan of Arc, Mozart, Tutankhamun, Helen Keller, the Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank all have in common? Not all of them are the same sex. They didn’t all live in the same century and they didn’t all achieve something similar. They are, however, all extraordinary, inspirational children, who have helped to change and shape the world in their lifetimes and so become a part of our history. They and a completely diverse range of 35 other Child Heroes make up History Heroes’ fantastic new game: Children.
We dare to suggest that the concept of ‘Children in History’ is genius but sadly we can’t claim that genius is our own: that honour must go to Professor Joanna Story, Professor of Early Medieval History at Leicester University
Professor Story came up with the idea in conversation with us about new themes for History Heroes games (we’re always interested in new ideas, so never hesitate to contact us with your thoughts). We thought the idea was brilliant: it opened up a particularly diverse and interesting range of stories. The Children we came up with were, and are, key figures in history, some already household names, others soon to become so!
We were keen to leave no stone unturned in our choice of History Heroes’ 40 Children and again, Joanna Story and her colleagues at Leicester University stepped in to help us, organising a workshop at Leicester to brainstorm Children in history. The workshop comprised history professors at Leicester and some of their students, all of whom gave us invaluable ideas and feedback on ours. One such contribution – the Happisburgh Children – take History Heroes: Children card game back to over 800,000 years ago, giving the game the longest timeline of any of the History Heroes games!
One (of the many!) interesting aspects of the History Heroes: Children card game is that it is the first History Heroes game, which effortlessly comprises 50:50 male:female ‘heroes’. It’s also by far the most historically, culturally diverse of our games so far. Children from all over the world seem to have been able to slip through the barriers to achievement that so often have thwarted grown men and women in history.
We’re thrilled with our new Children game: we think it’s extremely engaging and informative for all ages. We’re hugely grateful to Jo Story and all her colleagues at Leicester University for their contribution to the game’s development and we’re delighted to use a game about inspirational children in history to help Rainbow Trust and the children and their families it supports. 20p of each Children game sold will go this fantastic Children’s Charity: https://rainbowtrust.org.uk/
We hope you enjoy the game as much as we did creating it. We’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
Read more and buy the game here.