We had an incredible amount of fun learning about the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Check out the activities we accomplished, the videos we viewed, and the books we borrowed or bought!
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The Double Crown of Egypt
Activity
We read about the unification of Egypt in Chapter 2 of Story of the World, Volume 1. We then followed this youtube video to make the Double Crown of Egypt. The toilet-paper-roll false beard was easy. We took a toilet paper roll, scrunched up one end into itself and flattened it a bit. Then we painted it brown but I suppose it could have been gold, too. After it dried, we drew diagonal lines with permanent marker. Finally we punched holes in the top, attached string, and I knotted the string to fit the child’s face.
Book
We read The Egyptian Cinderella which showed the Pharoah wearing the double crown and false beard. Overall, the illustrations are beautiful and the story is compelling. While researching for my Cinderella Stories Around the World, I found this article debunking the Egyptian Cinderella as the first Cinderella story. (Spoiler Alert: China has the oldest Cinderella Story about a girl named Yeh-Shen.)
Pyramids and the Sphinx, Old Kingdom of Egypt
Activity
We downloaded this template to make our pyramid models. I printed them out onto cardstock and my daughter chose to draw the bricks with pencil. Then we painted the pyramids before cutting them out. I helped the younger kids with the folding and gluing of the tabs. We attached a loop to make these ornaments, as my older children had similar paper pyramid ornaments that they had made at age 6.
Books
Secrets Of The Pyramids: National Geographic Maze Adventures was so much fun. This presented facts about the building of the pyramids but also a cleverly drawn maze on every page. At the very end of the book is a puzzle to crack that uses hieroglyphs and clues from pages throughout the book.
Pyramid, by David Macaulay, is so beautifully illustrated, as are all of his books. We did not make it all the way through his book as a read-aloud, but it is worth leaving out for the kids to explore on their own. It would also work as a silent read for older kids, especially those who are interested in architecture.
Draw and Write Through History also has a step-by-step guide on how to draw a pyramid.
Boats
My kids chose not to make any reed boat models, but we did watch this video: Building a Bundle Boat
Pharaoh’s Boat is all about the excavation of the boat of Pharoah Cheops. It was discovered next to the Great Pyramid at Giza. There’s a lot of archaeological interest in this book as well as a double fold-out page at the end. Check out this video to see the real thing: Salvaging a 5000 year old boat in Egypt.
Mummies
My kids were quite grossed out with anything mummy-related. After learning about the embalming process one time by reading Mummies Made in Egypt, I had to skip all further mention of mummies in subsequent books. We did mummify an apple, though, using these instructions from Scholastic.
