Ancient Egypt activities for kids

In case you can’t tell ancient history is one of my favorite time periods for history lessons.  I find the ideas and activities you can do with this time fascinating, the history, the people, the mythology.  My bookshelves quite agree from the numerous books gracing them. Ancient Egypt is one of my favorites, I find the insanity of Egyptian mythology interesting, and trying to piece it together over a period of thousands of years is a fun challenge.  That’s what makes my Ancient Egypt unit so fun, there is loads of cool stuff to teach.

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Ancient Egypt Unit books and resources

I love to raid my library for books and search YouTube for different videos.

When studying Ancient History in elementary school we used Mystery of History 1 for our spine, but I also recommend Project Passport Ancient Egypt from Homeschool in the Woods. It could totally be your spine, and has loads of cool projects.

Ancient Egypt Unit YouTube videos

We watched these videos our final time through history when the kids are in high school. Here are my caveats:

• These videos are screened for middle school and older.
• I am okay with my kids hearing some amount of cussing.
• I try my best to not have nudity, and I believe these videos don’t have any, but ancient artwork being what it is.
• There is some amount of violence.

Some of those videos are more entertaining than educational, and some I don’t completely agree with, but it’s worth letting kids see all sorts of perspectives.

Ancient Egypt books

Most libraries will have loads and loads of books. I curated my list to not be solely 50 books about mummies, but it could be very easy to do that.

• King Tut’s Tomb– A decent introduction to this major find, oh gosh around 100 years ago in 2023
• Ms. Frizzle’s adventures: Ancient Egypt– If you’re familiar with Magic School Bus books, then you know the general idea of how this will go. A nice solid way to learn about Ancient Egypt.
• Hieroglyphs– In the same series as King Tut’s Tomb, this book covers their writing, and will get your kids hooked on the idea of it.
• Tutankhamen’s gift– Told somewhat as a story, this nonfiction book tells the story of Tutankhamen and how he unexpectedly became king
• Howard and the mummy: Howard Carter and the search for King Tut’s tomb– I know I said I wasn’t going to have lots of books on the same topic, so you’re probably wondering at the three books on King Tut, but each of these focuses on a different aspect. One looks specifically at the mummification, another at actual daily life, and this focuses on the archeology. I like seeing all the different aspects.
• I am Cleopatra– I’m vaguely indifferent to this series. It’s a good early elementary book series, but for some reason I personally don’t really like the illustrations.
• Mummies, pyramids, and pharaohs: a book about ancient Egypt– I love Gail Gibbons books. They are great. Get this book.
• Seeker of Knowledge: the man who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs– a fun look at how we learned to translate hieroglyphics
• Mummies– I’m including this because it’s a good for kids who are learning to read
• The Mystery of King Karfu– I love this picture book, and it’s also great if you’re doing a mystery unit. It is possible to solve the mystery from the clues presented, and the commentary is quite fun. Highly recommend.
• Temple Cat– a temple cat grows tired of being worshipped and her life in the temple. I thought it was a nice picture book that gives a glimpse into what life might have been in Ancient Egypt.
• The Scarab’s Secret– an adorable book that has the feeling of mythology or a Just So story, it’s a great book about a scarab that saves the pharaoh while sneaking in facts about Ancient Egypt.
• Voyage to the Pharos– an “older” (2009) book that may be hard to find, but if you can grab it, the illustrations are amazing. It’s during the later phase, after Alexander the Great, and a young Greek sailor wants to see the lighthouse at Alexandria

Ancient Egypt activities for preschool

Even younger kids like to get in on the learning fun, so here are some fun activities and posts shared that would be great to do particularly with preschoolers.

• Ancient Egypt Sensory bin

Sigh, this is what happens when you’re updating an almost 10-year-old post, so many blogs don’t exist anymore.

Ancient Egypt Unit: mummies

Let’s face it we are all fascinated by the idea of mummies, and a little bit scared, so here are a few fun ways to learn about mummies. I’m so fascinated by it that I had several different mummy lessons:

• How to make a chicken mummy
• Original chicken mummy– I technically have two more, but I’m thinking of combining some of these or maybe getting rid of them… I need to figure that out, for instance, we have following procedures from that lesson
• King Tut’s Funerary Art
• Mummify a doll
• Skeleton Meets Mummy– an adorable picture book

• How to make a fruity Pharaoh mummy– this is the only one of the original 4 that still exists

Ancient Egypt Mythology

These were the fun activities that just didn’t quite fit into a category, they’re not strictly crafts, but they’re certainly great to do.

• Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
• Egyptian Mythology report

Ancient Egypt field trips

There are many traveling exhibits about Egypt, a few years ago a semi-local museum had a real mummy on display that was fascinating to see.

• Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Ancient Egypt crafts

In my book any lesson that has a craft is an instant winner, especially for my kids, the messier the better.  So, here’s a few crafts. These are all based off lessons you are probably teaching for your Ancient Egypt Unit, or cool things to add in.

• Make a shaduf– this can be categorized under Ancient Egypt or Ancient Mesopotamia, and officially I put it in Mesopotamia because Egypt already has so many cool ideas.
• Senet board game

Of the many different crafts from years ago, these are the only two from that original post that still exist.

• Make an Egyptian Reed boat and learn about the Nile River
• Make your own Senet board game

Originally published January 22, 2014