The Egyptians

On Tuesday afternoon, the Bluebirds had a brilliant session with The History Man!

They explored a map of Egypt and learned about the North and South Kingdoms. The North wore red crowns with a snake symbol, and the South wore white crowns with a vulture symbol. They tried on Egyptian clothing and learned that women wore tube dresses and men wore shorts and kilts, all made from linen. The Egyptians were the first to make thread, string and rope, which helped them move heavy stones to build pyramids.

They also found out how flooding worked along the Nile. Rich people lived on the hill, and when the water rose each year, everyone moved there. After the water went down, they planted seeds in the black mud and dug small channels to help crops grow. When farmers couldn’t work on their land, they helped build pyramids.

For our mummification demonstration, Forrest was our mummy. The children learned that bodies were preserved by removing the organs and placing them in jars. A magical shabti doll was placed on the body to guide it to the afterlife.

They also learnt how to play Egyptian games using Egyptian versions of dice called throw sticks or knuckle bones. Finally, they learnt that the Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphics and we even practiced writing our names using the symbols.  

It was a fantastic afternoon, and everyone learned so much!