Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself

by Carmella Van Vleet

Overview

From reed boats, papyrus, and amulets, to pyramids, pharaohs, and mummies, Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself explores the fascinating lives of ancient Egyptians through more than
25 hands-on building projects and activities. Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself gives readers today a chance to experience how the ancient Egyptians lived, cooked, worked, worshipped, entertained themselves, and interacted with their neighbors through building projects that use common household supplies.

Detailed step-by-step instructions, diagrams, and templates for creating each project are combined with historical facts and anecdotes, biographies, and trivia for the real-life models of each project. Together they give kids a first-hand look at daily life in ancient Egypt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780977129454
Publisher:	Nomad Press
Publication date:	11/01/2006
Series:	Build It Yourself Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	433,410
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.32(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Carmella Van Vleet is the author of several books for Nomad Press including Amazing Ben Franklin Inventions You Can Build Yourself, Explore Ancient Egypt!, Seven Wonders of the World, and Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself. Her work has been featured in Highlights, Parenting, and Scholastic Instructor. Carmella lives in Lewis Center, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Timeline of Ancient Egypt     iv
Map of Ancient Egypt     vi
Introduction     1
The Foundations of Ancient Egypt     3
Boats     9
Farming     14
Papyrus     19
Homes     25
Bread     34
Games     40
Tunics & Fashion     47
Jewelry     53
Amulets     58
Kohl & Perfume     63
Royal Crook & Flail     68
Pyramids     78
Temples     87
Mummies     96
Hieroglyphs     107
Glossary     115
Resources     119
Index     120

Editorial Reviews

Curriculum Connections
"After reading about ancient Egyptian life and civilization, students can extend their learning experience by making papyrus, date candy, an amulet, or other easy-to-replicate projects. An appealing balance of clearly presented information and alluring activities, Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself is a ready-made resource for classroom pursuits and presentations."

School Library Journal
"The ideas will be useful for school projects or individual crafting fun. This title will be a useful and popular addition to any collection…"

School Arts Magazine
"This truly fascinating book makes connections to history, math, and science while focusing mainly on the art and culture of ancient Egypt."

Children's Literature
"A wealth of interesting information and clever hands-on projects… Many of the projects could help teachers fulfill curriculum objectives."

From the Publisher

This truly fascinating book makes connections to history, math, and science while focusing mainly on the art and culture of ancient Egypt.

School Arts Magazine

There is a wealth of interesting information and clever hands-on projects in this slim book. There is a good timeline of pharaonic history, but most of the text concerns daily life—building boats of papyrus and houses of mud bricks, using the waters of the Nile in ingenious ways to irrigate fertile farmland, making jewelry and make-up, and playing games. For each chapter, there is at least one activity—making a papyrus boat with drinking straws, plastic beads for an Egyptian necklace or amulets, and board games. Many of the projects could help teachers fulfill curriculum objectives without anyone having to fill in spaces on a worksheet, but the activities should definitely be tried ahead of time. Many will take longer than the 20—30 minutes suggested in the text, and some of the ingredients will be unfamiliar. A recipe for date candy, for example, calls for cardamom seeds, which are actually large pods and need to be ground for use in most food. The sepia-colored printing and the variety of fonts is often distracting and unappealing, but these are minor problems in an otherwise interesting presentation of an overdone subject. The glossary, index, and additional resources are thorough.

Children's Literature - Karen Leggett

Former teacher Van Vleet has written other titles in this Build It Yourself series from Nomad Press. They are all intended for a middle school or mature grade school audience. A timeline at the beginning of this book explains the period that the book discusses and there is a map of the region. The map, while helpful, needs to be labeled more clearly—for example, the Nile is never identified, although there is a special section about the river and its importance to the region. This section describes the path of the river and allows the reader to make the assumption that the north-south line on the map must be the river. The chapters are laid out in a style appealing to younger readers, with information included in sidebars in addition to the main chapter heading, a glossary for each chapter and one or two projects to try at home. There are photos and drawings included, all sepia toned. The chapters cover a broad variety of topics, from farming to funerals, and the projects include instructions for making flatbread and building a papyrus boat. Each project gives a list of supplies, an estimate of the amount of time it will take and step-by-step instructions. The difficulty level ranges from very simple to fairly complicated, including some projects that require tools and techniques that will challenge the most able youngster. There is a list of additional resources at the end of the book as well as a glossary and an index. Middle grade students will get a good introduction to a subject that many of them find fascinating. Reviewer: Ellen Welty

KLIATT - Ellen Welty

Gr 4–6
The fascinating text in this collection of 30 projects is supplemented by sepia-colored illustrations or photos on each page. The "Timeline of Ancient Egypt's History" lists nine periods from the early dynastic years to Greek and Roman Egypt, with each entry briefly described. A simple, clearly labeled map of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt precedes the introduction. The projects are tied to many aspects of this civilization, including the Nile River, agriculture, craftsmanship, pyramids, mummies, family, farming, bartering, the Egyptian calendar, Royal Library of Alexandria, temples, hieroglyphs, and more. Areas of boxed text throughout give additional information on such topics as obelisks, the legend of Osiris, etc. The ideas will be useful for school projects or individual crafting fun. A few require adult assistance, such as when using spray paint, plaster of Paris, an oven, a saw, or a sharp knife. Children can immerse themselves in ancient Egypt by making a papyrus boat, berry ink, a tunic, sandals, perfume, a pyramid, a cartouche, and much more. Back matter includes a glossary of 122 words and resources (13 books and periodicals and l5 Web sites). This title will be a useful and popular addition to any collection, along with Avery Hart and Paul Mantell's Pyramids!: 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt (Williamson, 1997) and Nancy Fister and Charlene Olexiewicz's Make History: Ancient Egypt (McGraw-Hill, 1999).
—Augusta R. MalvagnoCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal