We talked about how ancient people wove fabrics, and then the kids got to weave with a loom. To do this, I propped a dowel rod between two chairs and tied strings to it, weighted at the bottom by washers. Then the kids wove it as you see here...
(I found this project idea here.)
They made mummies by wrapping little duct tape people with strips of linen, and gluing them in place with "resin." (I labeled our Elmer's glue as "resin" and no one was allowed to call it glue. They had to say "please pass the resin" not "please pass the glue" when they needed it.) Inside of the wrappings they also added "amulets" (rhinestones). For the sarcophaguses, we used this free printable pattern.
Our biggest, most involved project (but also the coolest) was making our own Pharaoh Mummy Masks. I found a great set of instructions from an school art teacher here. I scheduled this project over three co-op days. Day one we formed the strips over their saran-wrapped face to make the mask, day two they painted their masks gold, and day three they painted the faces and colors on them.
After learning about Egyptian art and showing pictures of it from library books, the kids drew and painted their own Egyptian Self Portraits on real papyrus paper from Egypt!
After we read the book Seeker of Knowledge, which had several hieroglyphic words and their translations in the back, my son wrote his favorite one ("lion"). I had him sketch the hieroglyphics on paper then trace it onto some more of the papyrus paper, then paint it with water color...
The kids also made their own canonic jars. We wrapped plaster strips around a small container for the bottom, then they formed the jar heads using model magic...
I printed their name cartouches here, then they transferred them to Sculpey clay to make real cartouches...
And our last project of the year was making our own papyrus paper. I've done it successfully with rhubarb, as described here. Sadly, our store was out of rhubarb so we had to make do with celery which didn't quite cut it. But they still got the gist of it. For anyone wishing to do a neat papyrus-making project I'd recommend the one I linked to, but suggest that you hold out until you can get actual rhubarb. :)
Now it's time to start planning projects for Ancient Greece & Rome for next year! :D
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