VE Day - KS1

VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) was the day when fighting against Nazi in Europe stopped.

On 8 May 1945 at 3pm, Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, announced on the radio that the war in Europe had ended.

World War Two began in 1939 when invaded Poland and Britain and declared war on them.

2025 marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

World War Two had changed the lives of millions of people all over the world. Cities were bombed and children had to move to the countryside to escape the bombing. These children were called evacuees.

When Churchill announced the end of the war, people were relieved and really happy.

Street parties and celebrations were held and people dressed in red, white and blue.

People gathered outside Buckingham Palace in London and King George VI and his family came onto the balcony to greet everybody.

That evening Princess Elizabeth (who later became Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister Margaret were allowed to celebrate with the crowds of people outside.

The war between the Allies and Japan continued until August 1945 - the end of that part of World War Two is known as VJ Day (Victory in Japan Day).

World War Two began in Europe after invaded Poland in 1939.

The war also happened across lots of different continents too.

Find out more about Europe and the other continents.

We know about World War Two and VE Day because of the stories that people told each other, the letters written by soldiers fighting in the war and the reports on the radio and in newspapers.

When you recount something, you write about what has happened. Recounting and documenting what happened is important so we can the people and events such as World War Two and build a more peaceful society.

Anne Frank is famous for her diary recounting her experiences of the war.

Find out more about how you can recount what has happened to you.

Write a diary entry about VE Day.

Imagine you have just finished listening to Winston Churchill's speech on the radio. What did you see, hear, feel? How did the people around you react? What were the celebrations like?

For your diary entry, write in the first person. Write as if the events happened to you. You should use the pronoun “I” throughout your writing.

Imagine that you were there on VE Day and write a newspaper report about the day.

• What happened?

• How did people celebrate?

• How did people feel?

For your newspaper report, write in the third person and make sure you get your punctuation correct!

During the war, there wasn't as much food so the food had to be rationed (shared) so that there was enough for everyone.

Rationing continued after the end of the war and ended in 1954.

People were encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables - to 'Dig for Victory'.

People had to make food from simple recipes as there wasn't as much food around.

The government published recipes during the Second World War which included unrationed vegetables. So you had recipes for carrot cakes and even carrot Christmas pudding where you used carrots and less sugar to sweeten the food.

During rationing, people became very creative with the ingredients they had.

Click on the worksheet below to make your own VE Day jam tarts. to have an adult to help you.

During the war there were artists and photographers who drew and photographed what was happening. These were called war artists and war photographers.

Some artists were employed to design posters to tell people about what was happening and to encourage people to help their country during the war. For example, there were posters to encourage people to grow their own vegetables - to 'Dig for Victory'.

Look at some of the images in the slideshow below for more WW2 posters.

• Imagine you are having a VE Day 80th Anniversary celebration at your school.

• Design a poster to tell people about the celebration.

• Think about what you need to tell them on your poster.

Learn all about the lives and legacies of some famous activists and explorers. Take a trip back in time and build and test history skills through interactive storytelling.