A long time ago
History · Early Years · The School
Before you were born
Your mum or dad was small before you were born. That is the past. It is not that long ago at all. Your mum or dad can tell you all about it, any time you ask them, in their own words.
Your grandparents' past
Your gran or grandad was small even before that. That is further back. It was a longer time ago. But people alive today still remember it well, and can tell you all about it too, if you ask nicely.
Long before anyone alive
A castle was built a very long time ago. Nobody alive today saw it built. That is much further back than your gran or grandad. Nobody living remembers that day at all, not even the oldest person you know.
The very, very long ago
Big animals called dinosaurs lived on Earth long, long ago. That is far further back than castles. Nothing written down at all is from that far back in time. We know about them from old bones found deep in the ground.
One timeline, in order
Let us put four things in order. They are dinosaurs, a castle, and two children. The children are your gran and your mum or dad. The castle is the Tower of London. It was started more than nine hundred years ago. Dinosaurs lived many millions of years ago. That is far longer ago than the castle. So dinosaurs go first. The castle goes second. Your gran as a child goes third. Your mum or dad goes last. That is the newest of the four. So we start with dinosaurs. Next comes the castle. Then your gran as a child. Last comes your mum or dad. Events in order, oldest first, make a timeline.