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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

I am Pharaoh [Craft & Writing Prompt]


Warning: If your child tends to be bossy, it might be best to avoid this activity. My son thoroughly enjoyed being “Ruler of Egypt” ... perhaps a little bit too much!

Before my son got crafty, we read up on Ancient Egypt. Both of these books contain amazing graphics and illustrate the Egyptian jewelry, headdresses, and clothes beautifully.



Now watch how we transformed one large sheet of gold posterboard, double-sided sticky tape, and construction paper strips into pharaoh accessories!

First my son made an Egyptian Pharaoh’s headdress, using instructions on the Activity Village website. I used their pattern as a guide, folding a sheet of newspaper in half so the pattern would be symmetrical. Then my son cut it out and we stapled it to a strip of the paper (this became the headband).


Next, he used double-sided sticky tape to glue on blue strips of paper. Voila! He looked just like the Great Sphinx of Giza (well, from the neck up anyway!).

Then we used the rest of the posterboard to make a gold collar with directions from Show Me. We traced a plate for our circle shape and then positioned another circular bowl inside it closer to the edge and traced it too. By cutting a slit in the back, it was easy for my son to cut out the interior circle and to slip it on and off.

Since my pantry only had bowtie pasta (a decidedly un-Egyptian shape), my son glued on more strips of paper to emulate precious jewels.


Once completed, he put them on and promptly told me he was Pharaoh and I was a royal guard. I gave him a blank sheet of writing paper and told him that as Pharaoh, he needed to record his rules.

Download a PDF of this writing paper here.

His rules follow. (Um … I'm not sure how I feel about that first one …)

Mom has to clean the dishes.
Everyone hugs Dad.
Live in the pyramids.
No school!
All wear chapstick.

While my son would rather do just about anything other than write, giving him this opportunity was just the motivation he needed. No whining, just writing. (Oh, how that makes me happy!)

10 comments:

  1. Ha ha ha ha, those rules crack me up!

    I'm pinning this for when we cycle back around in history.

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  2. Your Pharaoh is BRILLIANT! How fun, would be great for a school dress up day too!

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  3. Oh, that is downright manipulative! ;-) I will definitely use that for my 'bossy one' and for my 'reluctant writer'. Thank you so much!

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  4. fantastic activities! thanks for sharing!

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  5. His rules are hilarious! I wouldn't be too happy about that first one - especially paired with the second rule!

    Thanks for sharing with Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)

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  6. love it! thank so much for sharing on Craft schooling Sunday!

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  7. What GREAT hands on activities - so LOVE your blog!! I think his rules are too cute! And don't you do the dishes anyway =-) Thanks for linking up to TGIF! See you tomorrow,
    Beth =-)

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  8. What a fun lesson! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!! I hope you will share with us again this week!

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