Blue birds over the White Cliffs of Dover

Find out what part the Kent coastline played in The Battle of Britain and why it was so dear to the hearts of British people. Build a large 3D model of it from recycled materials ready to display the model fighter planes. Listen to Vera Lynn’s famous song.

Teaching Outcomes:

• To begin to understand the events that led to The Battle of Britain and the relative advantages and disadvantages of the combatants.
• To learn techniques of modelling with recycled materials and papier maché to create a 3D model of a landscape.

Children will:

• Understand the events that led to The Battle of Britain.
• Begin to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the Luftwaffe and the RAF as the battle began.
• Learn about the iconic significance of the White Cliffs of Dover for pilots defending Britain from invasion and in the hearts of British people.
• Either create a large scale model the Kent coastline in papier maché and recycled materials or work on increasing knowledge of the fighter planes used by each side in The Battle of Britain.

• Modelling instructions
• Task sheet
• Prompt sheet
• The Battle of Britain: session 2

• A range of recycled packaging
• Several pots of PVA glue diluted half and half with water
• Chunky brushes
• Plenty of torn strips of newspaper
• Roll of kitchen paper

Vera Lynn singing “The White Cliffs of Dover from bbc.co.uk