The Great Fire of London: what children learn
This game asks short questions about what happened, who was involved and why the fire spread so fast. It is a good way to check that children remember the key facts after a story or lesson, and to start conversations about how London, and firefighting, have changed since 1666.
Suggested kindergarten practice, selected by skill and reading demand. US states and schools teach these topics in different grades; this is not a state-standards alignment claim. This is world-history enrichment; it is not a US-history sequence.
NCSS C3 Framework teaching connection: Historical chronology and inquiry. Ordering events gives learners a starting point for questions about change and cause. Follow the timeline with two sources and discuss what each reveals. A quiz does not replace source evaluation or a complete historical inquiry. Read the framework.
How to play
Put the events on the timeline from the earliest to the latest, then press Check. Tap an event, then a space on the timeline, or drag it there. Each game has 3 rounds with no timer. When you press Check, the events in the right place stay and show their dates, and you get one more try for the others. You get a point for each event placed right first time. For a quicker go, choose Quick quiz: 10 multiple-choice questions in 150 seconds (choose Relaxed for more time).
Step by step
- Tell the story first. Read or watch a simple version of the story. Children remember facts much better when they know the order: the bakery, the wind, the spreading flames, the escape by boat and the rebuilding.
- Meet the people. Thomas Farriner was the baker. Samuel Pepys wrote the diary. King Charles II was king. Christopher Wren designed the new St Paul’s Cathedral.
- Ask why it spread. Houses were made of wood and built close together, the summer had been dry and a strong wind was blowing. Ask your child which reason they think mattered most.
- Compare then and now. In 1666 there were buckets, fire hooks and squirts. Today we have fire engines, hoses, smoke alarms and brick houses.
- Talk about evidence. There were no cameras in 1666. Look at a painting of the fire together and ask: what can we learn from it?
Worked examples
Example 1: Where did the Great Fire of London start?
Working: Think back to the beginning of the story. The fire started early on a Sunday morning in the king’s baker’s shop.
Answer: A bakery in Pudding Lane.
Example 2: Why did the fire spread so quickly?
Working: Wood burns easily, and the houses were so close together that the flames jumped from one roof to the next.
Answer: The wooden houses were close together.
Example 3: How do we know about the Great Fire today?
Working: There were no photographs, but people wrote and drew what they saw.
Answer: From diaries, paintings and maps made at the time.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Mixing up 1666 with 1066. 1066 is the Battle of Hastings, 600 years earlier. Say “sixteen sixty-six” together and notice the three sixes.
- Thinking there were fire engines like today. Show pictures of leather buckets and fire hooks. Fire brigades as we know them came much later.
- Thinking Samuel Pepys started the fire. Pepys only wrote about it. The fire began in Thomas Farriner’s bakery.
Activities to try at home
- Read Samuel Pepys’s description of the fire in a children’s book and act out the escape on the river.
- Build a row of cardboard houses close together, then spread them out. Talk about why gaps helped stop the fire.
- Visit, or look online at, the Monument in London, built near Pudding Lane to remember the fire.
- Print the game sheet and play it after reading a story about the fire.
Ideas for the classroom
- Make a class timeline of the four days of the fire with pictures.
- Hot-seat Samuel Pepys or Thomas Farriner: students ask questions and the “character” answers.
- Compare a painting of 1666 London with a photograph of London today.
- Use the quiz as a starter at the beginning of the lesson and again at the end to show progress.
Free printable game and worksheet
The free printable starts with a game sheet, such as a color-by-answer picture, an answer maze or a secret-code joke, followed by a worksheet. Both use the same checked questions as the online game, and the answers are on the last page. Print it, or save it as a PDF from your browser’s print menu.
Open the free printable game and worksheet
Frequently asked questions
How many people died in the fire?
Only a few deaths were recorded at the time, but historians think the real number was probably higher, because the deaths of poorer people were not always written down.
Did the fire end the plague?
This is an old story, but historians are not sure. The plague was already fading by 1666, and the fire did not reach many of the poorest areas where it had been worst.
How should I choose this game for my learner?
Suggested kindergarten practice, selected by skill and reading demand. US states and schools teach these topics in different grades; this is not a state-standards alignment claim. This is world-history enrichment; it is not a US-history sequence.