How do children develop a sense of history before formal schooling begins? In my article, I explore how children between the ages of 7 and 12 engage with the past in informal contexts—through toys, books, costumes, games, and media within their home environments. Based on ethnographic research conducted in 39 Austrian households, this study offers insight into a largely overlooked form of learning: informal “everyday historical thinking”.

This form of thinking is not formed through instruction, but through incidental, interest-driven engagement with material culture. Children construct meanings about the past by interacting with historically themed objects in their daily lives. I argue that these practices form a distinct, valid mode of historical understanding, separate from academic thinking taught in schools.

The study identifies three recurring modes of engagement:

1. Crafting and Organizing – Children act as bricoleurs, assembling historical fragments from their surroundings to build intuitive, sometimes inconsistent, narratives of the past.
2. Accepting and Believing – Lacking critical tools, children often take historical representations—such as toys or media depictions—as accurate and authoritative.
3. Feeling and Experiencing – Through emotional immersion and role-play, children embody and internalize historical settings as they imagine them, creating lasting experiential knowledge.

This research invites a shift in how we understand historical learning: from a school-centered, cognitive model to a broader, culturally situated view that acknowledges children's lifeworlds. Rather than “correcting” these informal practices, I argue that they offer valuable insights into how humans — both children and adults — make sense of the past in everyday life.

By combining ethnographic depth with quantitative scope, this study aims to open new perspectives in history education and calls for greater attention to the diverse ways historical thinking develops outside institutional contexts.

I appreciate the inclusion of my contribution in the thematic issue of HERJ, History Education Beyond the Classroom, as it provides a meaningful contextual framework that aligns well with the focus of the article.

Informal historical learning at home: on historical culture and everyday historical thinking of children by Christoph Kühberger (University of Salzburg, Austria) is part of the HERJ Special Series, History Education Beyond the Classroom and published in History Education Research Journal, volume 22.

Christoph Kühberger is a Professor of History Education and Civic Education at the University of Salzburg. He studied History and Italian (teacher training program) at the University of Salzburg and the Università degli Studi di Perugia. He received his PhD in 2003 in the field of New Cultural History at the University of Salzburg. His current research focuses on Digital Humanities, decolonization of historical knowledge, historical culture and historical thinking.

material culture ethnography home historical culture everyday historical thinking