Editorial note: A perfect complement to Barbara's articles is Helen Horler's. ‘ARTEFACT HANDLING AT BRUNEL'S SS GREAT BRITAIN ...Touch, Look, Listen, Smell - But Please Don't Taste' in Primary History 54, 2010.

Introduction: Time Helmet

For those who yawn at the prospect of yet another "famous person", and wonder how to bring history alive for KS1 children, put on your Time Traveller's Helmet and go back with my class to the time of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Your helmet, as my KS1 children were told, can be as decorative as you like. It can be like a motorcycle helmet, a crown, a space helmet, with feathers, sparklers, silver flashes and bright patterns, limited only by your imagination. Close your eyes, clap three times and away we go...