Egypt Unit Study: Making Pyramids, Mummifying a Doll, Hieroglyphics Potato Carving & More!

We recently did an Egyptian Unit Study in our homeschool a few weeks ago and it was so much fun. I thought I would share some of the things we did here just in case you were thinking of doing something similar or needed to inject some fun into your school day!

Since my twins were already studying Egypt that week and all kids had studied it in the past I thought I would just do a quick unit study for the day and add in some hands-on activities. A few things we did were:

• Heiroglyphics Potato Carving & Stamping
• Mummify Dolls
• Make Pyramids
• Molded a Sphinx out of Play-doh

Now just a quick note--if you know anything about me you will know that I am not naturally crafty and have to put a bit of effort into these things. So don't think that I am some supermom or something because that is definitely not the case! 

We first started out the day watched a video on YouTube to give us a deeper understanding of Egypt and how the pyramids were built.  

Then we all got charts of Heiroglyphics.

Then we tried writing out our names in Heiroglyphics:

And also wrote a secret code word that the person next to us had to decode, which ended up with tons of laughter because they got really silly with their words. Then we moved on to:

HEIROGLYPHICS POTATO CARVING & STAMPING

What you need:

bowl potatoes (any kind will do)
paint
paint brush
paint paper
knife

We sliced the potatoes in half, picked a heiroglyphic that we liked and began to carve it out on the potato. The kids really liked that.

Then we used a brush to cover it and stamped it out on paper.

We also constructed pyramids:

MARSHMALLOW PYRAMIDS

What you need:

marshmallows (small)
toothpicks

Just make sure you get a nice foundation going at the base and build your way up!


Then the most exciting thing we did that the kids went crazy over was mummifying a doll.

MUMMIFYING A DOLL

What you need:

doll
red marker
white wine vinegar
spices (cinnamon, himalayn salt)
olive oil
water
flour
strips of white fabric or muslin


We bought dolls from our local thrift store and even used an old one we didn't want anymore.

Then we laid the doll on the plate and talked about how the organs were all removed except for the heart. We then drew a heart on the doll on the chest with a red marker to show that it was kept in.

We washed the body with white wine vinegar and then rubbed some spices on it along with some salt for preserving. It is supposed to sit for 40 days so you can explain that to them or wait 40 minutes (a minute per day) if you want to get the point through to them. We didn't have time and quickly went on to the next step.

We took a sheet (bought at the thrift store) and cut it into strips of fabric to wrap around their bodies.

We made a paste of water and flour to add to soak the strips in and then wrap the dolls. We used one part flour to two parts water and stirred. We started with the head first and worked our way down which is what we learned that they really did back in those times.

(as you can see it got pretty messy!)

I had printed out this sheet to help them understand the process and we had also watched a video on YouTube too.

We also tried our hand at molding the Sphinx.

PLAY-DOH SPHINX


picture the Sphinx
any color Play-doh

All we did here was just mold the Play-doh as much as we could into the likeness of the Sphinx. It was simple and easy.

EGYPTIAN STICK PUPPETS

This one we mainly did for my four year old. Since she joins us I knew this would help her pass the time while we were doing the "big" kid activities!


I just printed out these images and we added a craft stick with glue on the back and tape to reinforce it.

This was our Egyptian Learning Board:

And the plaques on Egypt:

We included the flag:

We also did some Wordsearches and coloring pages.

This was an Egyptian timeline we used:

We also got books from the library but you can also find some interesting ones HERE.


All in all, it was a great day and I would definitely do it again. They won't forget this day for some time!

QUICK HELPFUL TIP BEFORE I GO:

My very favorite pencil in the world, these wonderful Ticonderoga pencils (I am telling you because they don't break, even with 5 boys!) are on sale for $9.96 for nearly 100! That is about 10 cents a pencil and a super great deal. It is only for a limited time so don't miss it!

I hope you like our pictures!

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