Childhood in War

Imagine yourself as a child in wartime and step into recreated environments located throughout the exhibition, including this child’s bedroom with real books to pull out and read.

Get hands-on with interactive displays throughout the exhibition. This living room transports you back to the Cold War; watch an episode of Duck and Cover and make a call on a rotary-dial telephone. There was no texting or social media back then!.

Even in times of conflict, families had fun and found time to play games together. In the exhibition, explore the games room and challenge each other to everything from a giant board game (snakes and ladders style!) to classics including Battleship and Chess.

As you travel around the exhibition, young visitors can also enjoy a literary trail inspired by much-loved children’s books, collecting a stamp at six different points.

What would it have been like to be a child in the first world war, all alone on a train, travelling far away from your home and family, as a young evacuee? Sit inside the recreated carriage and step into their shoes.

Doctor Carrot: The Children’s Best Friend was a Second World War Homefront poster to encourage growing vegetables.

© IWM (Art. IWM PST 8105)

A child refugee’s drawing depicting the 1998–1999 conflict in Kosovo.

© The rightsholder (EPH 3008)

'Combat Ted' given to Dean Johnson by his children and taken on deployment in 2010 to Afghanistan.

© IWM (EPH 11211)

A Second World War London evacuee label.

© Crown copyright reproduced under delegated authority from The Keeper of Public Records. IWM (Documents.2999/A)