Making a Timeline

[Einen]

One thing I'd like to do this summer is put up a big timeline. It will go on the walls in our family room.

Is it as easy as putting up a big roll of paper and filling it in? Would that stay nice over the long term?

Does anyone have any tips or good links for ideas on how to do this?

Thanks!

[lotusdebi]

:
I'm interested in the same thing. I was thinking about splitting it up between time periods and locations, though. Like, having one timeline for prehistoric times, another for major occurrances in world history, and another for U.S. history. I have no idea what materials to use, how to space it, etc. I've asked my parents to pick up a timeline from www.charliesplayhouse.com for my oldest son's birthday this summer, in the hopes that it inspires both of us.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

I didn't want to make a timeline and then run out of room in one time period and not enough in another, so I went with a more flexible system. I hung a piece of string across the school room, invested in a few packs of index cards and some paperclips. Whenever we wanted to add something, we would put a picture on the index cards and add whatever details we needed, like bio information, year it occurred, what they were famous for, etc. Then, I'd open a paperclip so that the inner hook was above the card and the outer hook would be taped to the back of the card. We could hook it over the string anywhere we wanted. As time periods got more filled, we would slide them over and make more room. I loved it. The kids really liked that we started with family members and they could see what happened when grandparents were kids or what happened after they were born.

We took it down when we changed rooms and it's still in a tub, but we'll get back to it next year It was really cheap, really easy and worked really well

[dawningmama]

Originally Posted by ALittleBitCrunchy

I didn't want to make a timeline and then run out of room in one time period and not enough in another, so I went with a more flexible system. I hung a piece of string across the school room, invested in a few packs of index cards and some paperclips. Whenever we wanted to add something, we would put a picture on the index cards and add whatever details we needed, like bio information, year it occurred, what they were famous for, etc. Then, I'd open a paperclip so that the inner hook was above the card and the outer hook would be taped to the back of the card. We could hook it over the string anywhere we wanted. As time periods got more filled, we would slide them over and make more room. I loved it. The kids really liked that we started with family members and they could see what happened when grandparents were kids or what happened after they were born.

We took it down when we changed rooms and it's still in a tub, but we'll get back to it next year It was really cheap, really easy and worked really well

That is an awesome idea!

[blueholly]

That's the best idea I've ever seen!! Thank you!

[Britishmum]

We made one and ran it through the kitchen and down the hallway. We measured and cut paper, and wrote the dates sequentially on it. I then made a ton of colored stars out of paper, and the kids wrote in pertinent information before sticking them onto the line.

The only problem was that it became tattered over time, but I saw this as a positive as we were using it. It was by no means permanent.

I do plan to put up some pegs and wires from IKEA along the hallway, for art work eventually, but at first we'll use them for timelines.

[Einen]

Originally Posted by ALittleBitCrunchy

I didn't want to make a timeline and then run out of room in one time period and not enough in another, so I went with a more flexible system. I hung a piece of string across the school room, invested in a few packs of index cards and some paperclips. Whenever we wanted to add something, we would put a picture on the index cards and add whatever details we needed, like bio information, year it occurred, what they were famous for, etc. Then, I'd open a paperclip so that the inner hook was above the card and the outer hook would be taped to the back of the card. We could hook it over the string anywhere we wanted. As time periods got more filled, we would slide them over and make more room. I loved it. The kids really liked that we started with family members and they could see what happened when grandparents were kids or what happened after they were born.

We took it down when we changed rooms and it's still in a tub, but we'll get back to it next year It was really cheap, really easy and worked really well

That is a great idea. Thank you!