Category Archives: Ancient History
Ancient Sahara Trade Routes
Most of Africa south of the Sahara desert is cut off from Northern Africa and Europe by the Sahara desert. The biggest desert in the world, it covers 3.3 million square miles! It is desolate, with very little plant and … Continue reading
Assyrians!
We learned about the Assyrians recently. Our friend, Katie helped the kids make these projects. For the older kids: shaduf models. A shaduf was an ancient water irrigation tool. A long weighted pole with a bucket on the end was used to … Continue reading
Ancient Egyptian Jewelry
We made several kinds of jewelry during our study of the Egyptians. They not only wore it for its’ beauty, but also because they believed it was magical and could protect them from evil as long as they wore it. … Continue reading
Ritual of Tammuz
Each fall when it was time to sow the grain, the Assyrian women did a special ritual to appease the god, Tammuz, who was the god of corn. They wept to mourn the death of Tammuz, then threw corn seeds … Continue reading
Baucis and Philemon, A Greek Love Story
Near a swampy lake in Phyrgia there is a low wall enclosing tow trees–a linden and an oak. Long long ago Zeus visited this land with his son, Hermes, the messenger god. The two gods traveled through the land, disguised as ordinary … Continue reading
The Knights, A Greek Comedy
The Greeks wrote really cool plays, almost everybody knows that. But almost nobody has read them. That’s too bad, because they are really awesomely good. We tend to think of the Greeks as big time intellectuals and some of them … Continue reading
Babylonian Timeline
Stella showing the Code of Hammurabi The Babylonians were an ancient Mesopotamian people living in the southern part of what is today Iraq. They conquered and adopted the culture of the Sumerians who came before. And in turn they were conquered by the Persians. But … Continue reading
Grecian Urns
John Keats’ sketch of the Grecian Urn hewrote about in his famous “Ode ona Grecian Urn.” The ancient Greeks are a fascinating people to study because they were so advanced for their time. They had fully functioning cities with far … Continue reading
Ancient Egypt
There’s no shortage of information on ancient Egypt, even when it comes to teaching little kids. Just head to the library and you’re sure to find a ton of interesting books no matter what reading level you’re in search of. … Continue reading
Pictographs and Petroglyphs
Cave Painting, pictographs, and petroglyphs are the art of many early civilizations. When tackling Art History or Art Appreciation it’s good to start at the beginning and this is it both in terms of time and sophistication. Paintings were done … Continue reading
Hopewell People
The Hopewell were a people of ancient America who lived around the Ohio River Valley and down the Mississippi from about 300 BC to 550 AD. They were probably not a nation as we think of it, but rather a … Continue reading
Cuban Missile Crisis For Kids
The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the events of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. Try a role playing activity to bring it to life for your kids. First you have to introduce the Cold War. … Continue reading
Map of Ancient Egypt
Historical maps are great tool for understanding the past. You can see when you look at a map of Egypt why people lived only along the river. You can see the boundaries of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms and … Continue reading
Historical Map of the Middle East
Here’s a free printable map of the Ancient Middle East we’d like to share with you. Click on the link and print out as many as you would like for your family or your class. Please don’t re-sell or re-use the map without … Continue reading
Land Bridge Model
As part of a unit study on the Ice Age, my kids and I made this land bridge model to represent the possible land bridge that may have connected Asia and North America.We began by making homemade salt dough. We … Continue reading
