Stepping into Ancient Egypt

I have shared recently, how very excited I am about the history curriculum I am jumping into this year with my homeschooling son:  Story of the World.

 I am also excited to share with you a variety of products that will work as supplemental activities with both this awesome Homeschooling History curriculum.  Some of these activities will be my own creation (like this one shown here, the Paper People of Ancient Egypt), while some will be from outside vendors.

 I have been doing a bit of research to locate the best items I can find to highlight our curriculum.  I will share about each as I do and might even have giveaways to offer, from these outside vendors as well!

But let's jump in first to Chapter 1 from Story of the World, which begins with the earliest nomads and introduces the first pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.





 I have really enjoyed delving back into the Egyptian far past.  Joseph from the Old Testament has always been a personal hero of mine, and so learning more about Ancient Egypt is something I have enjoyed, even in my spare time.

 Now, I'm declaring in advance that my paper doll figures are definitely in a state of undress to begin with.  And yet, even this state of undress, with my Egyptian woman figure in an almost bikini of undergarments, is not historically accurate.

 Most of you know, Egyptians chose garments of linen, that were often transparent, and I have not seen any undergarments worn under female Egyptian dresses (at least that are visible in pictographic images).

But, since these images are intended for children to learn from, I made the choice to put our lady above in a "linen" undergarment, not too different from the loincloth of her male counterpart.

The cat, seen pictured is from an image of the Egyptian Mau breed, and cats quite often are seen depicted in jewelry-like collars (and sometimes earrings)!

Although, we created some clothing images that are ready to be printed in full color for our Egyptian couple, we also have several coloring sheets for students to enjoy.

I definitely recommend using a very sturdy cardstock when printing out the figures of the Egyptian man and woman.  Cardstock will also be helpful if printing out the images of

props that we also include.

For coloring with older children, I'd recommend using the gel pens that are so popular these days for adult coloring books.  These are easily available from Amazon and come in a variety of styles and colors.

I was able to use a metallic gold for much of the jewelry (and we do know, the Egyptian nobility did like their gold).

There are also pens with sparkles in the ink, and I admit a preference to them, too, when I color.

Here is an example of the type of pens you can find...

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=adult+gel+pens

And you will see a wide variety, with a varying set of prices.

Cutting out the clothing proved to require an intense level of attention and detail.  I would recommend taking on this task yourself, as your kids might be easily discouraged on this part, unless you have a child who is extremely adept at the scissors.

The end result is actually quite fun, and will offer that feeling of ownership and an interest in reading more about Ancient Egypt that is so often inspired by play.

You can check out our product here in our store:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ancient-Egypt-Paper-People-and-Props-Activity-2603221

Story of the World does revisit Ancient Egypt a number of times in the first Volume (as indeed, there is much to cover in the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom).

So, there will be much opportunity to re-use these fun paper people and add to the knowledge as you keep reading through the book.

We also include two pages of props, including Egyptian date palms, a backdrop of the pyramids, and some household props that Ancient Egyptians most likely would have been familiar with on a day to day basis.

I'm excited about introducing these to my son, and I might include them in a future post.

If you decide to purchase and download this product, I would love to see how your children's creativity is engaged:  send me a photo with permission to use it on my blog and facebook I would be happy to share it.