How to talk about war in class?

Last updated on 12 May 2026

How to talk about the war in Ukraine with the students? How can we explain to young people a war and a conflict that rightly occupies a large part of the media space?

Many resources have been published and posted online in recent weeks to help teachers address conflict with their students in the classroom. I advise you among others this synthesis of resources to help understand the war in Ukraine produced by ENS Lyon in its Geography for Teachers section.

In this article I propose a series of resources in the press to talk about war in class. The major media are at the rendezvous of course, but also the youth press as the titles of the Bayard group which this time again mobilized to create quality media.

Press resources to approach the war with the youngest

A comic strip to understand the importance of talking about it with the youngest

Astrapi magazine publishes on its website a nice comic ‘Lulu I am afraid of war’. Lulu, Astrapi’s heroine who goes through the same difficulties as them on a daily basis, asks some of the questions young children ask themselves. The comic board can be downloaded for free. Still in Astrapi an article to download to explain to the youngest the origins of the conflict.

A podcast to talk about Ukraine and give good advice to children

This is a quality podcast produced weekly by Astrapi with the public service radio France Info. The podcast “Hi info!” explains the news for 7-11 year olds every Friday. Unfortunately, Ukraine has been in the news for many weeks. Two episodes to listen to or make listen. The one of 25 February which provides a good summary of the situation and the reasons for the conflict and that of 11 March This includes the advice of a psychologist who talks about the fear of war and gives concrete advice to children.

A complete doc on the origins of the conflict in Ukraine

The excellent ‘Images Doc’ magazine is also on board. It offers as a free download a remarkable synthesis of the situation and origins of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in four pages with maps, drawings and infographics.

A complete newspaper on the war in Ukraine

The magazine 1jour1Actu editions Milan publishes and makes available free of charge a special edition dedicated to the conflict. In summary a large poster to understand the conflict, a comic strip, testimonies of Ukrainian teenagers … To download in PDF format.

A complete article in the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil

Because when you understand, you're less anxious, that's what the youth content team at this Montreal daily says. A team that has mobilised to respond to questions most often asked by primary school children in a long article. They asked for help from experts in political science, psychology and even philosophy.

Press resources on the war in Ukraine for the biggest

Be careful, some of these resources are to be reserved for students in high school.

A long multimedia format of the Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps

The major Swiss daily newspaper publishes a Special Edition for young people, their parents and teachers. An excellent journalistic work to explain, point by point, the ins and outs of the crisis. The editorial formatting put online is very successful. The entire document can be downloaded in PDF format.

The war in Ukraine in maps in the newspaper Le Monde

Le Monde makes it possible, in addition to all its articles on the conflict each day, to Follow the war in Ukraine through maps. Infographics to monitor the situation on a daily basis.  The main infographic allows through a cursor to go back in time day by day and see the different facts by date. Remarkable.

War through Arte’s videos

The European television channel had the good idea to bring together on one page all the videos broadcast on the Ukrainian conflict. Be careful, some images are very violent. To help with the consultation, Arte classified them by theme: Russia: informing to resist, war from the inside, understanding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, etc. As is often the case with Arte, quality is at the rendezvous.

So much for these press resources about the war in Ukraine. Please help me to complete them if you know of other interesting recent publications.