Key Stage 1 history · Significant individuals

KS1 Columbus and Neil Armstrong: a guide for parents

Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic in 1492, and Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. In Years 1 and 2, children learn about these two explorers and compare their journeys, which makes a striking example of how travel, equipment and evidence have changed. Schools choose which significant people to study, and this pairing is one of the curriculum’s suggestions.

Columbus and Neil Armstrong, explained

The National Curriculum asks schools to teach about the lives of significant individuals who contributed to national and international achievements, and says that some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods. It suggests Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong as one pairing, though schools may choose other explorers instead. Their famous journeys are 477 years apart, so the pairing is an excellent way to see how much can change.

Columbus was born in the city of Genoa, in what is now Italy, in about 1451. He believed that he could reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic, and he persuaded the rulers of Spain to pay for the voyage. He set sail in August 1492 with three small wooden ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María. After a stop at the Canary Islands, they sailed for about five weeks with no land in sight, and on 12 October 1492 reached an island in the Bahamas. He had not reached Asia. People had lived in these lands for thousands of years, and he made further voyages afterwards. Teachers tell the story simply for this age group, and many make it clear that people were already living there. As a parent you can add that today historians also look at the harm that followed for the people who lived there.

Neil Armstrong was born in 1930 in Ohio, in the United States, and worked as a pilot before he became an astronaut. In July 1969 he and two other astronauts flew to the Moon in a rocket-powered spacecraft. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface, and Armstrong was the first of them to step out, famously describing it as a small step for one man and a giant leap for humankind. Michael Collins stayed in orbit above them. The whole mission took about eight days and the crew returned safely to Earth. In total twelve people walked on the Moon, between 1969 and 1972.

The comparison is where the history happens. Children put the two explorers on a timeline and think about what they used: wooden ships driven by the wind, a compass and the stars, against a giant rocket, computers and radio contact with a team on the ground. They also think about how we know. We have film, photographs and sound recordings of the Moon landing. For Columbus there is no portrait that we know was made from life, and the paintings of him were made later, so they can’t show us his actual face. Pupils then say what the two journeys have in common: both were risky, both needed a crew and many helpers, and both changed how people saw the world.

Words your child will hear

Explorer: Someone who travels to find out about places that are new to them.
Voyage: A long journey, especially by ship.
Navigate: To find the way, using tools such as a compass, the stars or a map.
Astronaut: A person trained to travel in space.
Crew: The group of people who work together on a ship or spacecraft.
Spacecraft: A vehicle built to travel in space.
Logbook: A record of a journey, with notes written each day.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 1 says:

Pupils should be taught about the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements, some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods
Pupils should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.
Pupils should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: comparing two journeys

How was Columbus’s journey in 1492 different from Neil Armstrong’s journey in 1969?

Put the journeys on a timeline. Columbus sailed in 1492 and Armstrong flew in 1969. There are 477 years between them, and both are before today.
Compare how they travelled. Columbus sailed in small wooden ships pushed by the wind. Armstrong travelled in a spacecraft carried by a huge rocket.
Compare how they found their way and kept in touch. Columbus used a compass, the stars and his own experience, and could not call home. Armstrong’s crew had computers and radio, and a team on the ground talked to them.
Compare how we know. We have film and photographs of the Moon landing. For Columbus we rely on written accounts and paintings made after his death.
Find what is similar. Both journeys were dangerous, both needed a crew and many helpers, and both took people to places very far from home.

Columbus sailed in small wooden ships in 1492, using wind, a compass and the stars. Neil Armstrong flew in a spacecraft in 1969, using rockets, computers and radio. They were 477 years apart. Both journeys were brave and risky, and both needed a crew and many helpers.

Common mistakes and how to help

Believing that Columbus discovered America, as though it was empty land

Older stories said so, and many picture books still present it that way.

What helps: Say that people had lived there for thousands of years, and that sailors from Scandinavia had reached North America nearly 500 years before Columbus. What Columbus’s voyages did begin was lasting contact between Europe and the Americas.

Thinking Columbus set out to prove that the Earth is round

A popular story says that sailors feared falling off the edge, and children often hear it.

What helps: Educated people of the time knew the Earth was round. The disagreement was about how big it was. Columbus thought Asia was closer than it was.

Thinking Neil Armstrong was the only person to walk on the Moon, or that he did it alone

His name is the one remembered, and the story is told as one person’s step.

What helps: Buzz Aldrin walked there too, and Michael Collins flew the spacecraft in orbit. Twelve people walked on the Moon in total, and many thousands of people worked on the mission.

Putting the two explorers close together in time, or thinking the Moon landing was ‘long ago’ like Columbus

Both are in the past and are on the same page of a book, so children treat them as equally old.

What helps: Compare gaps. The Moon landing was about 57 years before 2026, so some grandparents remember watching it, while Columbus was over 530 years ago and no one can remember.

How to help at home

Test a paper boat. With an adult, float boats made from paper or foil in a washing-up bowl or sink, and move them by blowing gently. Which shape goes furthest? It shows why sailors depended on the wind.
Look at the Moon together. On a clear evening, look at the Moon and notice its dark and light patches. Say that twelve people have stood there, and that the journey there took the first astronauts about four days.
Write a ship’s log. Ask your child to write a daily entry as if they were a sailor on a long voyage: the weather, the food, what they hope to find. Then write one as an astronaut. How are they different?
Trace the route on a globe. Find Spain and the Caribbean on a globe or atlas and follow Columbus’s route with a finger. Talk about how long it takes to fly there now.
Add both to a timeline. Mark 1492 and 1969 on your family timeline. Add your child’s birth year and a grandparent’s, and see how the gaps compare.