Ancient Egypt

The children have been reading and researching important and interesting aspects of Ancient Egyptian history. The children began learning about “The Story of Creation” and the family tree of gods and goddesses of The Great Ennead. They went on to write a timeline that included detailed graphic images and text that reflected the changes in period. Once they had established key historical dates, throughout the period, they began to work on illustrations of the various gods, such as Ra – the Sun god, Shu – the god of Air and Tefnut – The goddess of Mist. The children wrote their own coffin texts, celebrating their attributes but mentioning their frailties too! They have been sewing beautiful designs, of the various gods, in hessian, making string pictures of the gods and goddesses of The Great Ennead, which have been have been displayed on the Dallington notice boards.

One of the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture is mummification. The children carried out some extensive research in this area and made their own books on the process of mummification that included illustrations, writing and beautifully designed covers. All the children learned how to carefully bind their own mummification books with raffia.
To conclude the project, the children have been making their own sarcophaguses based upon their own research. Their creations began with a piece of poly-board used as a base. The children used cardboard to form the outside of the body, filled it with tiny pieces of scrunched-up newspaper dipped in glue, then filled in. To complete the sculpture, mod roc was applied across the top, then painted with bright bold colours. We shall be taking a day trip to the British Museum,at the end of June, to see the galleries of Ancient Egypt, where the children will have an opportunity to reflect, draw, explore and confirm their understanding,of this wonderful culture.