Ideas for an Ancient Egypt summer project

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

From September I will have a Year 2 and Reception boys (and an 18 month old).

I will be working over the summer and I know I easily fall into the picking the kids up, cooking and going to bed routine so we have decided to be a bot more active and focussed.

I asked them if they would like to do a history-type project and DS1 came up with a few suggestions then they decided on the above.

We live in London so we will perhaps get in a couple of trips to the British Museum and possibly the Horniman Museum.

Our plan is to do some reading about, researching about, writing, drawing etc. and produce a little topic book by the end of the summer with all the stuff we have done. I want them to learn a little and keep up with the reading etc but also have lots of fun. We would like to create a display for our play room - sort of like they might do at school, so I am trying to comile a list of things we might do. Any suggestions welcome.

Great idea.

The Petrie Egyptology Museum is part of UCL. You could visit there. Haven't been so maybe phone ahead to see if appropriate for your ages (but they do do school visits).
www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

The teachers/learning resources page has some resources to download. Aimed at age 7 and above, but you could probably adapt for your ages.

British Museum is fab though and very child friendly IME.

Making 'death masks' (you could just call them 'mummy masks') would be fun - lots of gold and blue paint.

Wrapping each other up in loo roll, to look like mummys! (If you could deal with the mess!).

Write a diary of what it is like to be a child king (a la Tutankhamun).

Not a period of time I know a lot about. But is there a Horrible Histories on it?

I had forgotten about the Petrie Museum brilliant idea. I imagine there is a horrible history and I have another child orientated book that I will browse. Have written those ideas down, they would love the loo roll.

I do hope there will be much use of Lego building pyramids, Cleopatra's needle and camels

rainy day ideas :

Polydron - can they build a pyramid / learn 3d shape names

Lego - pharo's quest collection - build various bits then get them to make a mini-film, writing a basic script and photographing or videoing.

Archeology (british festival of archeology is on during July - google for local events, there are quite a few even at our tiny local museum)

Archeology kits (basically lumps of sandstone that conatin plastic "treasures" that children scrape away at.

Sand art (again kits ! - yellow moon do lots of different coloured sand including little plastic things to fill up with sand layers, also do crafts on eygpt in packs)

Putrification Smells (good for roman baths topic too) - basically lots of stinky food items that the children mix (add bicarb for fizz) also works well for Georges Marvellous Medicine topic.

Disection (ie prep for mummification) - buy a big chunky, unfillited fish and children can locate and put into jars brain, intenstines, etc (sounds odd but my younger children loved this)

Wish you'd been my Mum!!

Be a little careful - my childhood interest in Egypt turned into a degree in Egyptology - not the most useful of things to have in the world!!

Would second the Petrie Museum; fab place.

Fabulous ideas, thank goodness for MN wisdom.

Go down to Crystal Palace and see the Sphynx there? Crystal Palace is lovely.

mummyfy (sp?) a barbie doll lol, i just bought a mad art book for ds and has insructions for that in egyption section.

writng or painting names etc in hyroglyphics.

Teach them senetwesheb.tdonnelly.org/egame3.html and get them to make their own set.

mine did projects for school... one (in Y2) did a clay scarab beetle painted in iridescent paint, the other (Y3) mummified a Bratz doll - best thing to do with them - and made a sarcophagus out of paper mache.

This horrible histories made me giggle and made me look at the bloke in a whole new light!