Dress Like an Egyptian

Monday we went to the local public library and I got to see the good selection of ancient cultures books including, to my surprise, books covering ancient Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria, and  Sumeria! After spending almost 25 minutes looking the ancient Egypt section over, I came home with 7 books.

For Story of the World Chapter Two: Egyptians Lived on the Nile River we dressed up as ancient Egyptians. I found the plans for making an Egyptian wig in (Craft Topics) Egyptians: Facts*Things To Make* Activities by Rachel Wright. Of course I had to make it! Luckily I already had some leftover black yarn and black fabric to make one. If I didn't I probably would have made one out of paper strips or fabric strips if I had just fabric. I was already going have the kids make a paper collar and the wig made the look complete.

On Tuesday we made the collars out of construction paper glued together to make it big enough and then cut to the right shape. Early Bird did not join us, but Builder Boy and I both made one. This was Builder Boy's first time using the squeezable glitter "pens" and he had a lot of fun. (I got them at the dollar store.) I waited for it all to dry and then I laminated the collars with contact paper (I LOVE that stuff.) I wanted the collars to last a while and I thought the contact paper folded over would keep it from poking the boys on the neck with a sharp edge. I left about 3/4 in around the edge and cut little slits in it so it would fold over the curved edge. I used a hole puncher and string to keep it on.

On Wednesday we put it all together! I do not own or wear make-up, so we didn't do the black around the eyes. I used some leftover white cloth for the kilts (that's what one of the books called them.) We went outside and walked bare-feet on the sand spilled from the sandbox that had been heated from the sun. We talked about not wearing shirts and not having air conditioning.

Playing in the "Nile"

Tomorrow, at Builder Boy's request, we're going to get out the inflatable pool and see if it's still good. If it is we'll "swim in the Nile" like Tarak (girl in the story from Story of the World.)

We also looked at the Clothes in Ancient Egypt part of Living Long Ago (at the time I got it I was able to get it for $10.) It has cartoon-like pictures, not photos.

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(Craft Topics) Egyptians: Facts*Things To Make*Activities by Rachel Wright (Out of print/not available on Amazon.com. ISBN 0-531-14209-4 The inside has the Dewy number as 932.01 but my library had it at 745.592)

 

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