Home Front Friday Fun for VE Day – Ways to honor the 75th anniversary at home
There will be no large gatherings to celebrate Victory in Europe Day’s 75th anniversary this year. However, you can still honor this day at home with some family-friendly activities.
MAKE A CRAFT
A great activity, courtesy of Jen Walshaw, creator of the website Mum in the Madhouse. This is a great interactive craft that requires a bit of skill but not too much in the way of supplies.
The site Laughing Kids Learn has put together a fun activity for younger children just being introduced to the concepts of war and true heroism. It focuses on celebrating bravery in action.
This template (provided by PlanBee) allows kids to create a beautiful representation of victory and freedom that can be displayed in windows, a great way to celebrate as so many individuals have taken to long drives through neighborhoods to break up quarantine. No printer? No problem! Victory chains can be made from multi-colored hearts secured together or even construction paper folded into a victory chain.
For more advanced, less craft-inclined kids, we present the PlanBee’s Morse Code Challenge! Kids can test their coding skills by translating part of Winston Churchill’s victory speech into Morse Code.
SERVE UP SOME HISTORY
PlanBee explores the concept of rationing and how it affected even the most basic, day-to-day recipes with these three recipes: Carrot Cake, Oaty Biscuits and Fresh Lemonade.
English Heritage provided recipes for Ginger Beer, Lemonade, Cheese & Marmite Swirls and Carrot Scones (pages 6 – 8). Set your young chefs loose in the kitchen to concoct a victory meal!
The 1940’s Experiment is one of our favorite sites! Carolyn offers up many ration recipes to choose from.
DANCE IT OUT
English Heritage’s 75th Anniversary VE Day Party Pack provides victory songs, “Lambeth Walk” and “White Cliffs of Dover” as well as instructions on how to do the popular Lindy Hop dance. Great for kiddos interested in the performing arts or with a lot of energy to burn.
An accompanying instructional video for the Lindy Hop can be found here.
PRACTICE SOME RATION FASHION
The Victory Roll hairstyle was all the rage and, while not the most manageable hairdo, it was a hallmark of the times. This video provides six different ways to achieve the VE Day ‘Do.