The Transport Museum in Covent Garden, London, has launched a new schools programme on World War II.

The scheme – which supports the study of WWII at Key Stage 2 – aims to help children understand more about the period by encouraging them to handle artefacts at the museum’s depot in Acton Town.

Costumed actors, including an underground shelter warden and an evacuation volunteer, describe events that took place during the war, such as the evacuation of children to the safety of the countryside.

The Covent Garden site is currently closed for a £20m redevelopment project and is set to reopen in autumn 2007.

Photograph: pupils from West Acton Primary School