Among the facts my kids learned were that the Nile Delta is triangular and that it opens into the sea. Also, the lower (southern) part of Egypt is at a higher elevation than the upper (northern) region which causes the river to flow up on the map. By making models of the pyramids and the Sphynx, they will remember that those landmarks are in Egypt. After reading about Egypt, one of my kids even decided to make a trash can to “put the brains in” since ancient Egyptians believed that particular organ served no purpose.

I actually did this activity with my kids over a year ago and it didn’t go exactly as planned. I’ve debated whether or not to even include these pictures or redo them. Since a whole year has passed and we have now moved on to the Middle Ages, I figured I might as well add it since it is instructive despite my failed vision. I may redo it someday. My original vision was that we would plant seeds along the banks of the Nile River, then we would pour water along the Nile to represent the banks of the Nile overflowing. We did this, and it sort of worked. I used garden cress seeds.

The problem was that I used my homemade playdough to create the Nile which is full of salt. As it would turn out, the expression “salting the earth” comes from the practice of pouring salt over the earth of those you defeated to prevent their crops from growing. Salt is not conducive to growing plants. I did have several sprouts, but very quickly, they all died. In the future, I would not use salt-filled play dough for the nice river. Maybe I would try using clay either colored blue from the store or painted blue after the fact.

If you are looking for a good reference book to go along with this activity, our family enjoys Time Traveler by Usborne. Not only does it discuss Ancient Egypt, you can also learn about the Middle Ages in Europe, the Vikings, and the Ancient Romans. If you are looking for even more ideas to supplement this activity, here is my post, Best Resources for Studying Ancient Egypt. You can also find more ancient history activities and free printables on my page, Ancient History Activities for Kids.

Nile River Delta Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: A few dollars for play dough or clay

Materials

• container such as a disposable 9×12″ casserole pan
• play dough or clay (I used homemade play dough, but if you would like to try growing seeds, I recommend clay. You may also want a couple different colors to show the river and the pyramids.)
• tray or cookie sheet to hold our model so it doesn’t get wobbly
• dirt
• paint (optional, if your clay is not the desired color)
• seeds such as garden cress (optional, if you would like to try growing a harvest along the Nile River)

Supplies

• shovel

Instructions

1. First, you will want to fill your pan with dirt.
   
2. Next get it wet to make it a little muddy.
   
3. Move the dirt around so that it is higher on one side than the other. This will show why the Nile River flows north to south. The water is traveling from higher elevation to lower elevation.
   
4. Use a picture of the Nile River to loosely sketch your river in the dirt. Make sure you include the Nile river delta in the lower elevation region! We used the Time Traveler book as a reference when we made our sketch.
   
5. Use your clay to mold the river and lay it down on top of your lines. If you were not using blue clay, feel free to paint it blue.
   
   
6. Next use the clay to scult some landmarks around the Nile River such as the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx.
   
   

Finally, just let your kids have fun! One of my kids decided to add some legs coming out of one of the pyramids as if it had fallen on a wicked witch.

If you are in the mood, try growing the plants along the Nile River to show how ancient farmers were able to use the flooding of the river to water their plants. Just remember, if you use play dough with salt, they will likely die quickly! One day when my younger kids are learning about ancient Egypt, I plan to try this again with clay.

Have fun learning about the Nile River!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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After spending some time learning about Ancient Egypt, I thought it would be fun to make some DIY “papyrus” using brown paper bags. (I know those can be hard to find nowadays. I’m pretty sure this activity would work equally well with any type of paper including white printer paper.)

We started off by reading about Ancient Egypt. For those who are homeschooling, I have always used Story of the World as our history spine, but over the past couple of years, I have been using History Quest to supplement. Personally, I think SOTW is better for younger kids and the accompanying activity book includes pages that are quick and easy samples for our charter school. However, History Quest is meatier and I feel it is more appropriate for my 11-year-old. Even for those who are not homeschooling, we also used this $8 Hieroglyphs book to go along with this activity which included fun stencils. This book is primarily what we used to learn about cartouches and figure out what we wanted to write.

All of our resources included basically the same alphabet for the letters which you can also find for free online. The Hieroglyphs book we used by Joyce Milton includes a lot more information about how the hieroglyphs developed and what they mean for those interested in deeper knowledge. We also watched this 7 minute YouTube video showing the actual papyrus making process so my kids knew what we were symbolically imitating.

My kids had so much fun working on their own “papyrus” that I don’t think they will ever forget what it is, how it’s made, and hopefully, where it came from.

Possibly more fun even than creating the papyrus was writing on it after it dried. I encouraged kids to try out some of the hieroglyphs from the book, but, except for my oldest, mostly they just had fun drawing their own pictures.

Papyrus and Hieroglyph Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 15 minutes to make papyrus, leave overnight to dry, 15 minutes for kids to write hieroglyphs
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $2 in used supplies

Materials

• paper (we used brown paper bags)
• wax paper to keep from sticking
• paper towels (to dry excess glue)
• black paint
• white school glue
• chopsticks
• water
• container to hold paint (not shown, we used an old sour cream container)

Supplies

• shallow container to hold glue mixture (we used a 9×13 baking dish)
• measuring glass
• fork or spoon to stir

Instructions

1. To start, place a sheet of wax paper in front of the child on the counter. This will keep the papyrus from gluing itself to the work surface. You may want to tape it down with masking tape.
   
2. Next, measure a half cup of glue.
   
3. Add a cup of water to the glue a bit at a time and stir to keep the consistency smooth. When you are done, you should have 1.5 cups of water/glue mixture.
   
4. Pour the mixture into a shallow container for dipping the “papyrus” strips into.
   
5. Next cut your paper into strips. I used brown paper bags, but off the bottom of the bag, and made strips that were about 1 inch wide and 4 to 6 inches long.
   
   
6. Have the child dip the strip into the glue mixture so it is fully covered.
   
7. Next have them place the wet strip onto their wax paper.
   
8. Repeat the process laying the next strip so that it overlaps the first one.
   
9. Keep adding more strips covered in glue so that some of the strips are vertical and some are horizontal causing the strips to seem to weave together.
   
10. Leave the “papyrus” paper to dry overnight. Once the top is starting to dry, you may want to start to peel it away from the wax paper to speed up the drying process.
    
11. Next comes the fun part. Pour some black paint into a container. We used an old sour cream container. Then let the kids draw on their papyrus with a chopstick. You can encourage them to use the hieroglyph alphabet to write out their name, but for younger kids, don’t be surprised if they would prefer to invent their own hieroglyphs.
    
    If you would like to have your child create a cartouche, a symbol for a royal name, all they need to do is write their name vertically inside an oval using sounds from the hieroglyph alphabet to approximate their name. For example, for my name, Michelle, I used M-SH-L plus the hieroglyph indicating that I am female. I think cartouches also frequenty have a horizontal line underneath the oval, but I did not include this.
    
    

Have fun writing like an ancient Egyptian with this papyrus and hieroglyph activity!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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This ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat activity was largely inspired by the ziggurat activity in the book, Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide. While we didn’t follow the procedure in this book exactly, the idea to stack boxes came from this book.

All we used to make this ziggurat were some material from packages we received the past month, sugar cubes, homemade air dry mud clay, and glue. I did have in mind that I wanted to do this activity with my kids for about a month before we actually did it which was helpful. During that month, I paid close attention to boxes that were going in our recycle. Whenever I was about to throw one out that was relatively square and flat, I set it aside. One of them was a contact solution box and one was a corndog box.

My kids had a blast working on this ziggurat. I thought there might be fighting, but thankfully they worked together. I built the base structure al on my own, then let my kids add on the sugar cubes and clay stairs. My four kids were somehow able to each work on one side of the ziggurat without fighting.

To go along with this ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat activity, we also read the Gilgamesh trilogy of picture books by Ludmila Zeman. While I think learning about Gilgamesh and the city of Uruk helped my kids appreciate the ziggurat even more, you don’t necessarily need this series. Check your library for books for kids about Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean is slightly longer, but another good option.

After I thought our ziggurat was complete, my 6 year old asked if we could build little houses around the ziggurat with sugar cubes and clay, so I said sure. That inspired me and I said, “Why don’t we pretend this is the city of Uruk where Gilgamesh lives?” We built a wall around the city since Uruk was known for its wall. My 6 year old then made 2 little people out of clay to represent Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu. In my opinion, this was learning at its best.

Ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials

• flat boxes of various sizes (ideally you will have 3 or 4 that stack on top of each other getting progressively smaller)
• large cardboard to use as base
• sugar cubes
• air dry clay (we used this recipe for mud clay)
• brown paper (optional – we just used the crumpled brown paper that came in packages and used this to wrap our boxes to give them a uniform look)
• paint (optional – we ended up not using it)
• glue (we used Elmer’s)
• paper plate or some other container to pour glue for dipping and paint if using

Supplies

• scissors
• packing tape
• tools for carving: skewers, forks, knives (optional)
• paintbrushes (optional – only if using paint)

Instructions

1. The first step was to make sure we had boxes of various sizes that could be stacked into a step pyramid shape. Once you have your boxes, tape them up so they hold their shape.
   
2. Next, I wrapped up the boxes in brown paper. You could also paint them. I did this step for my kiddos before we started just to make things easier.
   
3. Once you have your boxes of different sizes all wrapped up, hot glue each box on top of the next smallest box.
   You should end up with a stack of boxes in a ziggurat shape.
   
4. Next hot glue your ziggurat onto a cardboard base.
   
5. Cut out a piece of cardboard with a length slightly longer than your bottom box and a width that is about double the height of your bottom box. The exact dimensions are not crucial. Cut slits in that rectangle leaving a few inches uncut in the middle.
   
6. Make a triangular fold in the cardboard and tape it together as shown. Cut off any excess cardboard pieces.
   
7. Repeat on the other side. In the end, you should have a piece that looks roughly like this.
   
8. Hot glue this cardboard piece to the front of your ziggurat to represent stairs.
   
9. Now comes the fun part. Let your kids decorate the ziggurat with sugar cubes and clay. Paint is another option, though my kids ended up choosing not to paint their zigguart.
   
10. Since I have four kids, I let them each work on one side of the ziggurat. I showed them how they could use the clay to build a ramp, then use a skewer to create lines that looked like stairs.
    
11. Use pictures as guidance, then let their imaginations run wild on their homemade ziggurat!
    
    

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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If you are low on time, a simpler way to do the activity described below would just be to grab some play-doh or clay and a couple chopsticks or even pencils. Do an image search for “Cuneiform alphabet chart” then have your kids use the chart to write a short message. Know that any chart you find will be an oversimplification, but it wills till get the point across to your kids.

My kids all tried to write their names. In the image above, I wrote “mama” using the chart found in the Story of the World Ancient Times Activity Book. There is another chart in our History Quest: Early Times Study Guide which I suspect is slightly more accurate, but I thought it might be a little two complicated for my younger kids.

I wanted to make the activity a little more realistic for my kids so we made some homemade air dry clay and colored it brown with coffee. I’m hoping I can get a tutorial up just for the clay before too long, but for now, I’m including that step-by-step process below.

Also, we could have just used chopsticks as is, but I decided to carve the ends a bit with a knife so that the shapes made would be a little more triangular. Neither of these added steps are necessary, but I felt like they would help my kids remember:

1. Ancient Mesopotamians wrote their cuneiform in clay tablets.
2. They used reeds which left triangular markings.

Overall my kids had a great time. My 10 year old even went above an beyond and basically wrote an entire paragraph for me to decipher.

Ancient Mesopotamian Cuneiform Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 30 minutes to make the clay and shape chopsticks, 15 minutes for kids to write name in clay
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals (the pin at the top is made with instant coffee, this tutorial shows grounds – note that the instant crystals give a more uniform color, but are more likely to stain hands, clothes, and surfaces)
• 1.5 cups water
• chopsticks

Supplies

• knife
• 1 cup measuring cup
• 1/2 cup measuring cup (not pictured)
• pot for heating on stove
• spoon for stirring
• measuring glass
• stove

Instructions

1. Measure 1 cup of cornstarch and place it in the pot.
   
2. Measure 1 cup baking soda and add it to the pot.
   
3. Stir the baking soda and cornstarch together.
4. Measure 1.5 cups of warm water.
   
5. Measure a half cup of coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals. You can use more less depending on the color clay you want. The instant coffee gives a more uniform color while the coffee grounds do not fully dissolve leaving a more spotted, grainy look. However, note that even if you use ground coffee, when it dries, the “clay” has a more uniform color.
   
6. Stir the coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals into the water.
   
7. Stir the dark liquid into the cornstarch and baking soda mixture.
   
8. Heat the mixture on the stove over low heat stirring frequently.
   
9. While the mud clay mixture is heating, start working on your writing instruments. First, break the chopsticks apart.
   
10. Use a knife to sharpen the edges of the fatter end of the chopsticks.
    
11. Don’t forget to stir your clay!
    
12. Next, cut off the tip of one of the edges to form a small triangle.
    
    This images has lines drawn to make the carved shape more clearly visible.
    
13. Repeat the above steps until you have desired number of writing instruments (ideally one for each child).
14. Continue stirring your clay. You will know it is done when it has the consistency of mashed potatoes. This should take about 10 or 15 minutes. Note that it will thicken a little as it cools.
    
15. Pour the clay onto a plate to allow it to cool.
    
16. After it cools, shape it into a block and cut it into the desired number of slabs (one for each child).
    
17. Have each child take their portion and mold it into one or several clay tablets. Then they can use their writing “reeds” to make some triangular marks in the clay. They can either make their own designs or use an alphabet chart to write a secret message for you to decode.
    
    Note that even if you use the ground coffee instead of the instant coffee, when it dries it has a more uniform color. I’m really not sure why that is!
    

I hope your kids have fun being scribes with this fun, hands-on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform activity!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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I was impressed by how seriously my kids took the grinding. They worked on it off and on for 3 days. Initially my plan was that we would grind enough flour by hand to make bread. However, after a few days, it became clear that we just weren’t cut out for the job. The kids would grind for about 5 minutes at a time until their hands got tired. Those wheat berries are hard to grind!

In the end, they only got a couple tablespoons of flour. This was after the kids worked at if for at least a half hour all together. I even tried for a few minutes. However, after seeing exactly how slow this process was going, I realized I would need to change my original plan. We decided to use a blender to process the rest of the wheat berries. The experience definitely gave us all a newfound appreciation for modern technology!

The real fun in this activity was making the bread. We “foraged” in our pantry for nuts and berries. We checked and found that both salt and butter were around back in Neolithic times. Then we added water to our flour and stirred in the desired mix-ins.

Since things like yeast and baking powder weren’t around during the Stone Age, we didn’t use those items. We talked about it in advance and knew that our bread was going to be pretty dense. In the end, the kids thought the results ranged from “not bad” to “literally the worst bread I’ve ever tasted.” Personally, I thought it tasted pretty good (though I did add A LOT of dried fruit to my serving).

The kids ended up adding some honey on top of their baked Stone Age bread. We looked it up and learned that honey was in fact around during the Neolithic Era. In the end, the kids had fun, all the bread got eaten, and we learned a lot. What more can a homeschool mom ask for?

Stone Age Bread Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: Depends on how long you want to attempt grinding. Once you have the flour, about 20 minutes to prepare bread and 20 minutes to bake.
Difficulty: Hard to grind, easy if you use a blender once you realize it’s hard
Cost: About $10 for a bag of wheat berries, though you do not need the full amount.

Materials

• a mortar and pestle
• pizza stone (or cookie sheet)
• a blender or food processor (optional, but very useful!)

Ingredients

• wheat berries (depends on how much bread you want to make, but at least a half cup)
• nuts
• dried fruit (we used rainins, cranberries, and dried cherries)
• butter
• salt
• honey

Instructions

1. The main point of this activity is to show your kids how hard it is to grind flour by hand. Therefore, use either a mortar and pestle or a larger and smaller rock and let your kids try to make flour out of the wheat berries. You will likely need to use a small number of wheat berries at a time. We found that if we put too many in at one time, it became unmanageable and they would fly out everywhere.
   
   
2. At some point your kids will become tired of grinding. Take a look at how much you got and make sure to note how hard it was to get that small amount of flour.
   
3. After your kids get tired of grinding, you use your blender or food processor to grind more flour. Make sure your kids know that you are leaving the Stone Age and entering the modern world. You can ask questions like, “So why do you think the Stone Age people didn’t just use a blender?”
   
   
4. After you produce flour using modern technology, make sure you take the time to notice how much flour you got in such a short amount of time compared to using the mortar and pestle. Pause for a moment to appreciate the conveniences of our modern lifestyles that we take for granted.
   
5. Once you have a sufficient amount of flour (I used about 1/3 cup per person), get your add-ins ready. We pretended to forage for nuts and berries, by getting them from our pantry. Again you are making your child aware of how much easier it is now to find food than for prehistoric people. Since butter and salt were also available during the Neolithic Era, feel free to include those as add-ins as well.
   
6. Have your child begin to make their dough by adding water. Start with a small amount of water the have them add more gradually until they get a consistency they like.
   
7. Next comes the fun part. Kids can add in whatever they want to make their dough. I recommend adding at least some salt to increase the chances your kids will find it edible.
   
   My daughter used the mortar and pestle again to grind up some almonds. I didn’t see any reason why Stone Age people couldn’t have done that as well.
   
8. Next bake the bread on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Note that Stone Age people would have had to put a rock over a fire pit or made an oven out of something like rocks and clay. You will have to check your bread with a toothpick to see if it is done. We did 375 degree for roughly 20 minutes for our bread “cookies” that were about a half inch thick.
   
   
9. Lastly, see what your kids think! Some of my kids thought it was okay while one kid in particular didn’t really like it at all. It turns out Neolithic people harvest honey. Therefore, we didn’t feel bad sweetening out bread with a little honey. Everyone knows honey makes everything delicious.

Have fun being Neolithic chefs for a day!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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In our family, we have done the 4 year Story of the World cycle one time through. This coming fall, we are planning to start again with Ancient History. Since summer is about to begin, I thought, why not start a little early? That way we can take our time and go nice and slow through the first part of our history book.

I don’t know how successful I will be at keeping up this spirit of hands-on learning, but our pilot event was a huge success. As soon as we started learning about prehistory (the period of history before the invention of writing), I knew that I wanted to do cave painting. How exactly to do the cave painting and have it be meaningful took a little bit of thought.

At first, I was thinking we could find some natural clay and mix it with water to make the paints, but then that seemed like too much work. I wanted to keep things simple. Then I thought about just putting some butcher paper on the wall and letting the kids finger paint, but that seemed a little below the educational value I was hoping for.

To start, I decided to up the educational value by learning about some real cave paintings. First, we read Discovery in a Cave by Mark Dubowski which thankfully was available for free through our library’s digital lending system. (Libraries are currently closed due to the pandemic.) I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is informative, not too long, and the story itself is extremely appealing to children.

For a fun treat, afterwards we watched the very first episode of Carmen Sandiego called The Stolen Smile. I happened to recall that this episode described the Lascaux Caves which are the same caves featured in the book above.

So that my kids would be able to look at inspiration WHILE they were painting, I also created a few pages with pictures of real cave paintings. This printable features 3 famous caves around the world. I specifically chose ones of handprints and simple animals, since I knew my kids would be able to replicate images such as these.

My oldest decided to use a stick to paint some of his drawings. I thought this was a good idea since simple tools like this were available to prehistoric people as well.

Overall, I am really pleased with how well our afternoon of learning went. Seeing the happiness on my kids faces while they were enjoying a memorable educational experience was well worth the time invested. I don’t always tie in hands-on activities to our history, but I’m planning to try to make an effort more often!

Cave Painting Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 10-30 minutes of prep (depending on if you want the overhang or not)
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $2 in used supplies

Materials

• a large cardboard box (or two) for painting on
• a smaller cardboard or cereal box for creating structural triangles (optional, only if creating an overhang)
• washable tempera paint in black and red (or you could be more colorful)
• plates or containers for holding paint
• tape to hang cardboard (I found painters tape to work well enough for the activity, though our “wall” fell down overnight)
• optional: free printable educational document for inspiration

Instructions

1. If you haven’t already, first you will need to open up your cardboard boxes so that they lay flat.
2. If you would like to create an overhang with structural triangles so the child can paint on this portion, cut off the excess flaps from your smaller box.
   
   It should look like this after you finish:
   
3. Next, cut this smaller box into width-wise strips an inch or two wide.
   
   You will need at least 8 total.
   
4. Fold a strip into a right triangle and tape it together. It does not need to be symmetric, though the ones I used were pretty close. One of the angles in your triangle that is not the square angle should be the angle you would like your top flap to overhang.
   
5. Using this first triangle as a guide, make one just like it.
   
6. Repeat step 5 until you have 8 close to identical triangles.
   
7. Use the triangles to prop up one of the box flaps and tape it in place as shown.
   
8. Continue taping triangles in the same orientation onto the flaps along one side of the box. You will need at least 2 triangles per flap.
   
9. Next apply tape to the side of the triangle that will attach to the wall as shown.
   
10. Repeat above process to add tape to all of the triangles.
    
11. Next have someone help you tape the boxes onto a wall with the flap at the top.
    
    From the side, the flap will look like this:
    
12. If you are using the inspiration sheets, post them somewhere nearby so the kids can look at them as they paint.
    
13. Set out paint for the kids to use. Start with a little bit and add more as necessary. Since I have 4 kids, I decided to set out 2 plates of each color so there would be less fighting.
    
    

Now you are ready! Let the kids have fun!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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Here are some books, audio CDs and other resources that we particularly enjoyed when studying Ancient Egypt. Please note that my kids are in elementary school. I’m a big fan of using resources aimed at younger children for introducing even MYSELF to new topics, but if you have a middle schooler or high schooler, you will probably want to explore more grown-up texts as well. As my kids get older and I discover more awesome resources, I will be sure to add them to this page!

Also, you will obviously not need ALL these resources! Even if you’re only able to find 2 or 3 of these books though your local library system, you should have more than enough material to thoroughly become immersed in Ancient Egypt.

The Usborne Time Traveler

Title: The Usborne Time Traveler
Editor: Philippa Wingate
Year: 1998
Recommended Age Range: Everyone (fun for toddlers, very thorough for elementary, good introduction through high school and up)
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

This book only covers 4 subjects (Knights & Castles, Vikings, Ancient Rome, and Ancient Egypt), but it does those subjects EXTREMELY WELL. My kids and I all find this book fascinating. There are over 30 pages dedicated to Ancient Egypt. It is, by far, my go to resource when learning about this period in time.

If you’ve ever seen a Where’s Waldo book, it’s a little like that. There are pictures of scenes such as traveling on the Nile River, visiting a temple in Ancient Egypt, being in the Pharaoh’s court, and many, many more. Each scene is filled tiny people doing interesting things. My kids will stare and stare and ask about all the details they see. Everything is labeled, so it is easy to answer their questions.

The premise of this book is that you are a time traveler with a magic helmet that transports you back in time. Each time you go back in history, there is a family that you will meet and follow as you learn about that time period. This makes it extra fun for the kids, because for each page, not only are the they just absorbing all the details, but they are specifically trying to find the members of that family. For example, in Ancient Egypt, the family includes a 10 year old son named Hori and an 8 year old daughter named Meu.

Just FYI, there are some details in this book which all families might not be comfortable with. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with any of it (remember, the people are typically portrayed smaller than your fingernail), but there are some depictions of violence/death (particularly in battle scenes), slavery, and nudity. In the Roman bath scene there are quite a few bums out which my kids found immensely entertaining. I’m not able to find it at the moment, but I believe there may also have been a miniscule person sitting on a toilet (which my kids, of course, had no trouble finding).

National Geographic Kids: Everything Ancient Egypt

Title: National Geographic Kids: Everything Ancient Egypt
Author: Crispin Boyer
Year: 2012
Recommended Age Range: Everyone (lots of photographs for young kids, very thorough through middle school, good introduction through high school and up)
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

This book has a target age of 8 to 12 years old. Since my kids are mostly younger than that, we primarily just used this book for the pictures. There are SO MANY cool photographs in this book (including several of mummies and skeletons which might be a little creepy for some kids). The text is obviously sophisticated enough for a later elementary or middle school child, so for the most part, we just skipped over a lot of it with my young kids.

The book is divided into 4 sections: Land of the Pharaohs, Death and the Afterlife, Life in Ancient Egypt, and Fun with Ancient Egypt. The last section has pages called Write Like an Egyptian, Play Like and Egyptian, and Draw Like an Egyptian which have fun activities even for younger kids, like making your own cartouche or playing Egyptian tug-of-war.

Another great feature of this book is that our library system had several copies. It’s always great when I don’t have to buy a book I really want o use!

Adventures in Ancient Egypt

Title: Adventures in Ancient Egypt
Author: Linda Bailey
Year: 2000
Recommended Age Range: Elementary
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I’m a big fan of the Charlotte Mason living book philosophy of learning. Unlike a text book, which often present factual information in a dry, unemotional style, living books draw the reader in. Although I’m not expert, I think this book qualifies as a living book. It is about 3 siblings who go into a mysterious travel agency with magical books and find themselves in Ancient Egypt.

There are story elements, such as conflict, as well as characters with a wide variety of emotions, all tied in with a lot of factual information about Ancient Egypt. It is illustrated in a comic book style with panels and lots of word bubbles. The concept was a little advanced for my preschool through early elementary aged kids, but I think it would be perfect for kids in mid to late elementary.

Egyptian Treasures (Audio CD)

Title: Egyptian Treasures: Mummies and Myths (Audio CD)
Narrator: Jim Weiss
Year: 2000
Recommended Age Range: Elementary through Middle School
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My kids and I LOVE Jim Weiss. It doesn’t even matter what kind of story he’s telling. You say, “Jim Weiss.” We say, “Yes, please.” Even my infant and 3 year old are typically quiet in the car when we’re listening to him. We own about 15 of his CDs and re-listen to them regularly in the car. Unforunately, I’ve recommended him to several friends and I’ve learned he’s not for everyone. Some people seem to think he’s boring, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt. Personally, I think you should give him a try!

This particular CD is great if you’re studying Egyptian mythology. (If you are, be sure to check out my free, printable Ancient Egyptian Mythology cards.) The first two stories are feature some of the most well-known Ancient Egyptian gods such as Osiris, Set, and Isis. The last two stories are great if you have a budding archaeologist, as they deal with grave robbers and the discovery of the tomb of Ramses the Great.

There is ANOTHER Jim Weiss CD about ancient Egypt called, A Storyteller’s Version of Pharaohs and Queens of Ancient Egypt. That one is on my wishlist, but not in our library, so I can’t recommend it yet. However, I’m willing to bet that once we get it, I will be adding it to this list as well.

Everyday Life in the Ancient World

Title: Everyday Life in the Ancient World
Author: Sally Tagholm
Year: 2002
Recommended Age Range: Elementary
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This is another book that only deals with few topics (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Aztecs & Incas), but does a very thorough job at covering those subjects. Like the Time Traveler, it has a LOT of illustrations, which are great for really bringing the subject to life. I do not like it as much as the Time Traveler, but it’s still a very thorough, enjoyable book and spends nearly 30 pages just on Ancient Egypt.

Pages include topics like What to Wear, Food & Drink, and Accommodations. The whole thing is written in the style of a travel guide and highlights many “attractions” such as the pyramids or Karnak. It includes sentences like, “If you are on a tight budget, why not stay out of town? Tomb workers’ village houses are simple, but excellent value.” I understand that the authors wrote the book in this way for entertainment value, but I think it goes over the heads of my children (the oldest is in 2nd grade), and personally I find it mildly off-putting. However, there is still a ton of information in here. If your library has a copy, I definitely recommend checking it out!

Mummies and Pyramids

Title: Magic Tree House Research Guide: Mummies & Pyramids
Author: Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne
Year: 2001
Recommended Age Range: Mid to Late Elementary
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My oldest is only 8 and I think this book is too advanced for him, but if I were to read it out loud to him, I know he would understand it all. What I love about this book is that it’s clearly aimed at early independent readers. The text is made as simple as possible without sacrificing any of the super cool information about Ancient Egypt.

None of my kids have gotten into the Magic Tree House series yet, but I love the concept. This book is the nonfiction companion to the book Mummies in the Morning (which I think my son could read). One of the awesome things about being a homeschooling family is that we have time in our lives to go down rabbit holes and let our kids explore and pursue their interests on their own time. If my son were to become super interested in Ancient Egypt in a year or two, I think this would be the perfect book to put into his hands.

Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures in Ancient Egypt

Title: Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures in Ancient Egypt
Author: Joanna Cole
Year: 2001
Recommended Age Range: Early Elementary (Preschool through about 2nd grade)
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My young kids are HUGE fans of the Magic School Bus (both the old and new versions). I LOVE the idea of using the science book/show series to explore history as well. This was a wonderful book for studying Ancient Egypt with my kindergarten-aged kids. The story is told in the first person from Ms. Frizzle’s point of view, the images have a comic book style, and the text is very simple, which makes it engaging and easy to understand for little listeners.

There is a lot of information and even some interesting facts that we didn’t find in other books (like that their teeth were worn down by sand that blew into their bread). Overall, this book was a great way to get my littlest kids thinking about Ancient Egypt. The only caveat is that my 2nd grader now feels like Magic School Bus is too baby-ish, so it’s probably best for just the young set.

Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World

Title: Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
Author: Joanna Cole
Year: 2007
Recommended Age Range: Mid Elementary through Middle School (4th through about 8th grade)
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I’m pretty sure this book is actually a compilation of 4 other Usborne books on Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It doesn’t really cover other areas of ancient history, but it covers those 4 areas very well. There is nearly 100 pages devoted to Ancient Egypt in this book. If you would really like to have supplemental material for all the free printable cards, I’ve made on Ancient Egypt, this would be a good resource to have as it includes basically everything that I put into my cards.

What I like about this book is that it includes a nice mixture of illustrations and photographs. It is definitely a textbook and not a “living book.” I did not read all the information to my own kids, who are still fairly young, but rather just looked through the pictures. However, the language is simple enough that I think if I had read it to them, they would have understood a great deal. I think by the time a child is in fourth grade, they would be able to read this book independently.

Click here for more Ancient History activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Government and Civics Activities for Kids

The post Best Resources for Studying Ancient Egypt appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

As I read their stories, I keep thinking I should make some popcorn. The beautiful, ruthless Agrippina, sister of the insane tyrant, Caligula, possibly murders her husband and is then murdered by her son, Nero?! Tiberius is the stepson, adopted son, AND son-in-law of Augustus? (Wrap your head around that one.) It’s hard to believe that these people actually lived at all, not to mention a couple thousand years ago.

This free, printable, Montessori-inspired set of cards features 28 of the most famous Ancient Romans. Included in this set are:

• Tarquin the Proud
• Cincinnatus
• Scipio
• Gaius Marius
• Crassus
• Pompey the Great
• Cicero
• Julius Caesar
• Brutus
• Mark Antony
• Virgil
• Horace
• Augustus
• Tiberius
• Caligula
• Agrippina the Younger
• Nero
• Trajan
• Hadrian
• Marcus Aurelius
• Commodus
• Maximian
• Constantine the Great
• Diocletian
• Theodosius I
• Stilicho
• Odoacer
• Justinian I

Because I love the idea of Montessori-style split cards, there are 2 sets of matching cards for each figure, plus a complete set of control cards. The control cards contain all the information related to the figure (picture + name + biographical info). The split cards allow kids to practice remembering the information by giving them the option of matching the picture to the name to the biographical info. They can be used for independent study or to play a memory-style matching game.

To study these Ancient Romans, I recommend using any of a number of different resources. (You definitely don’t need them all!) With my first grader, I like to use Story of the World: Ancient Times. However, we also own The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and the The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. I like to look through these as well when I make the cards to make sure I’m not missing anyone really important.

Also, if you are using my free, printable blank world history timeline, I made some Ancient Roman labels that you can add to your timeline. (You are of course welcome to use them on any timeline…it doesn’t have to be the one I made!)

See my Ancient History page for a list of posts on other cultures such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. Sign up for my newsletter to stay up-to-date as this list of free resources grows.

Recommended Age Range: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $3 to laminate

Materials:

• Paper for printing Ancient Rome Historical Figure cards and corresponding control cards. (Note that the last 2 pages of each document do not need to be printed as they just contain legal information regarding sharing and image sources.)
• 15 thermal laminating pouches
• Optional: paper for printing Ancient Romans for History Timeline (only first page needs to be printed)

Supplies & Tools:

• Laminator
• Paper trimmer or scissors

Instructions:

1. Print the Ancient Rome Historical Figure cards and corresponding control cards.
2. Laminate them using thermal laminating pouches (optional, could also use contact paper or not laminate them at all).
3. Cut them out.
4. Print Ancient Romans for History Timeline if using.
5. Cut out the labels and glue them into a world history timeline.

Click here for more Ancient History activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Government and Civics Activities for Kids

The post Ancient Rome Historical Figure Cards appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

I made these definition cards so that even the youngest students can get a handle on this era of history. These Montessori-inspired cards feature 16 vocabulary words relevant to Ancient Rome. Control cards provide all the information in one place. Split cards can be matched for independent study or in a multi-player matching game.

The cards cover the following vocabulary words:

• Tiber
• Romulus & Remus
• plebian
• patrician
• aqueduct
• centurion
• gladiators
• Testudo formation
• senate
• forum
• tunic
• toga
• villa
• fasces
• barbarians
• Roman numerals

One of my main goals in presenting information like this to my young children is to give them mental “hooks” for learning even more information when they’re older. They may not remember names or dates, but by remembering some of these terms they will have a place in their brain to “hang” new information when they encounter it in the future.

One of my favorite ways to study ancient history with my kids is to listen to the audiobook Story of the World: Ancient Times. I like to have it playing while my kids color. My oldest, 7 years, will ask to hear certain sections again and again. One of his favorite parts in Ancient Rome is the chapter on the life of a gladiator.

For someone who didn’t like history at all when I was in school, I’m really enjoying learning about history as an adult. As I make these cards, I re-learn tons of information I’ve forgotten and even more information I probably never knew in the first place. Ancient Rome doesn’t disappoint. Even as I post these definition cards, I’m simultaneously working on cards for the most important historical figures of Ancient Rome. Their lives are fascinating! Sign up for my newsletter if you’d like to stay up-to-date with the latest resources.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $3 to laminate

Materials:

• Paper for printing Ancient Rome Definition cards and corresponding control cards. (Note that the last 2 pages of each document do not need to be printed as they just contain legal information regarding sharing and image sources.)
• 15 thermal laminating pouches

Supplies & Tools:

• Laminator
• Paper trimmer or scissors

Instructions:

1. Print the Ancient Rome Definition cards and corresponding control cards.
2. Laminate them using thermal laminating pouches (optional, could also use contact paper or not laminate them at all).
3. Cut them out.

To use these cards, I would first read a little about Ancient Rome using any of a number of wonderful resources. For my young kids, I like to use the book Everyday Life in the Ancient World. Then I show the kids a few of the control cards that directly pertain to whatever we just read. After that, I take piles of split cards featuring the same words and pictures. I make it into a game and let them match the pictures to the words. I leave the control cards out so that they can check their work or figure things out on their own if they get stuck. In the future, once they are more familiar with the words, they won’t even need to look at the control cards while they are making their pairs.

Click here for more Ancient History activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Government and Civics Activities for Kids

The post Ancient Rome Definition Cards appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Like my other Montessori-inspired cards, these multi-part cards can be used for independent study or for a memory-style matching game. Younger kids might just want to match the names to the pictures. Older kids might want to match the names to the biographical info. For a real challenge, kids can match all 3 pieces at once, using the control cards to check their answers.

The following important historical figurs from Ancient Grece are included:

• Homer
• Draco
• Sappho
• Pythagoras
• Cleisthenes
• Leonidas
• Sophocles
• Pericles
• Herodotus
• Socrates
• Thucydides
• Hippocrates
• Alcibiades
• Plato
• Aristotle
• Philip II
• Ptolomy I Soter
• Alexander the Great
• Euclid
• Archimedes

If I were going to use these cards with younger kids, I would probably start with the most famous historical figures (Homer, Socrates, Plato, Alexander the Great…). Older kids can use the entire set of 20 cards to learn about some of the other influential Ancient Greeks. If you use a world history timeline (like the one I made), I also made some little labels that you can cut out and paste into your timeline.

Note that this post is part of a 4-part set on Ancient Greece. The other posts in the set include:

• Ancient Greece Definition Cards
• Theseus and the Minotaur Shoebox Craft
• Greek Mythology God and Goddess Cards

See my Ancient History page for a list of posts on other cultures such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Rome. Sign up for my newsletter to stay up-to-date as this list of free resources grows.

Recommended Age Range: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $3 to laminate

Materials:

• Paper for printing Ancient Greece Historical Figure cards and corresponding control cards. (Note that the last 2 pages of each document do not need to be printed as they just contain legal information regarding sharing and image sources.)
• 15 thermal laminating pouches
• Optional: paper for printing Ancient Greeks for History Timeline (only first page needs to be printed)

Supplies & Tools:

• Laminator
• Paper trimmer or scissors

Instructions:

1. Print the Ancient Greece Historical Figure cards and corresponding control cards.
2. Laminate them using thermal laminating pouches (optional, could also use contact paper or not laminate them at all).
3. Cut them out.
4. Print Ancient Greeks for History Timeline if using.
5. Cut out the labels and glue them into a blank world history timeline.

Click here for more Ancient History activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Government and Civics Activities for Kids

The post Ancient Greece Historical Figure Cards appeared first on ResearchParent.com.