Hands On Ancient History 1700-1240 BC

Winter and the Thanksgiving/Christmas season slowed things down around here as far as home school activities, but we did manage to muster the energy for a few of the hands on activities in Old Testament Days as part of the units on Egypt/Exodus 1700-1280 BC and the Desert Wanderings 1280-1240 BC from Connecting with History Volume I.  (Our previous activities were posted here.)

I would have liked to make a model of the pyramids, but that didn't quite work out this time around.  I will definitely put that on the to do list for the next time that we go through Volume 1. 

We kicked off the Egyptian activities by recreating an Egyptian Paddle Doll and Serpent-Headed Throwing Stick which were both toys with which Egyptian children would have played. 














Blaise did  a great job recreating the design in the book when she drew her doll details.


Stringing the beads was a bit difficult for Roman.  He managed one strand on his own and then I lent some assistance. 




Roman took some creative license with his doll design.  The lower circle is a belly button in case you were wondering.


A word of caution on the throwing sticks, as I found myself regretting their creation at times.  You definitely need to set up the parameters regarding their safe use!

Leaving Egypt with the Exodus, Blaise experienced making her own unleavened bread. 














Everyone approved of the unleavened bread snack...maybe I should have Blaise cook more often.







The kids also enjoyed making their own shofars.  I believe that the hole that I snipped in the balloon was too large because it didn't really make a loud noise.  The kids pretty much removed the balloons and made their own noises as they tromped about the house. 











Making the salt dough map of the Promised Land was really interesting for the kids, and I think that this technique will be a useful tool when it comes to teaching geography.  I have visions of all sorts of salt dough maps in our future. 






Roman moving his chair in so that he isn't left out of the fun...I mean school.











The map sat out to dry while we travelled away for Christmas, and they finally painted it last week.






I am still hoping to make it down to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond before the Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb exhibit ends.  We tried to go a few times in December but were always prevented by illness. 

Hopefully, I will get reenergized to dive into some more hands on projects in the upcoming units.  The kids really enjoy them, and it is nice to have Roman interested in the work as well.  I can see that he is gaining a few points of reference that will be of service to him when we go through this cycle again.