Exploring Egypt

We have just finished up an amazing Egypt unit study. We have read wonderful books and really got into what it was like so long ago. Take a journey with us to see how we enjoyed tons of  hands on learning activities to explore Egypt. You will learn how to  read, write, and become Egyptian.   

To start the unit out, I decided a sensory play area would be perfect. I traced letters on a piece of paper to spell out Egypt. So while they were digging for Egyptian treasure, they would find letters along the way.

I used the Egypt Safari Toob, Assorted Gems, Alphabet Magnet Letters, and Famous Landmark Cards. Put everything in a bin with sand and it was ready to be played with.

A few of our favorite books were Mummies in the Morning and Mummies and Pyramids Fact Tracker

We also enjoyed The Usborne book of World History. It is one of the amazing books we received with our Sonlight curriculum. 

Bells loves her books and joins us for most of our schooling.

The boys loved exploring our life size Pop up Mummy Book a must for every house studying Egypt. The boys really love this book, it offers tons of information on what is put inside the tomb, how they are wrapped and much more. 

They also wanted to see how each one of them measured up to the mummy.

Even the baby had a turn.

After this we decided to Mummify an apple, unfortunately I haven't been able to locate my pictures from this activity, but I will explain how we did it. The directions can be found here. Every day for about 2 weeks, the boys would draw in their science journals what they observed from the apples. We mummified 1 apple and let the other apple just sit in a bowl. We compared the differences after the time was up. 

Next it was time for them to see what it would be like to be wrapped up like a mummy. If you are wondering why Blazey has his toes covered with bandaids, it's because when the Egyptians were prepared for the tomb their toes were wrapped with gold. He decided to use bandaids to try it out.  

Blazey spent hours building this lego pyramid, he did a wonderful job.

We also built pyramids out of sugar cubes, and used our Egypt Safari Toob Figures as accents and small world play.

It's easy to add in Math using the sugar cubes. Have the little one's count how many cubes it takes to make the pyramid or how many for each level. For the older kids they can estimate how many, then count, then average how many on each level. 

Exploring Egypt is even more exciting when you see how they wrote stories, used a picture for each letter of the alphabet and how much detail went into their work. This is called Hieroglphs, and we used a great book and stamp set from Metropolitan Museum of Art called Fun with Hieroglphs.

The boys ABC's in Heiroglphs

Explored important facts and read great books all month long.

 The Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt was another book with a lot of information.  

 Pyramid by David Macaulay is a must!!! It shows everything you would want to know about how pyramids are actually built. 

Wouldn't your kids love to dig like archaeologists (another thing we spent time learning about), With this great Mummy Excavation Kit they can. They also learn how it takes time to find valuable items and you have to be very careful not to break things, because everything old becomes a lot more fragile. 

We used our Little Passports goodies for extra learning, read our letter from Sam and Sophia, placed our luggage tag on our suitcase, and added our stamp to our passport. The boys absolutely love receiving their Little Passports goodies every month. It's truly a valuable learning tool.

I hope you get the chance to use some of these fun hands on activities with your kids.

Thanks for visiting.  

Looking for even more ideas on how you can explore Egypt with your children, check out my Egypt Pinterest Board here.

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Surprise Box Day

Have you ever gone to a store or bought something from a company and truly enjoyed everything about it? That's how I feel about Citrus Lane. I have been receiving their boxes for the past several months for both my 4 year old and my baby and I am always pleased. They deliver a surprise box filled with eco-friendly and organic products based on the age and gender of your child. The also have a neutral gender option you can choose. Here are a few pictures of my little ones enjoying their Citrus Lane Goodies.

Library Book Sales are a Must

I love books. In fact, in my dream house I envision an amazing library just like the one from Beauty and the Beast, that would be a dream come true. For now I do the next best thing, which is stock the shelves in my house full of quality books. 

Our butterfly experience comes to an end

Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.

-William Wordsworth

If you haven't had a chance to see part 1 of Our butterfly experience, I would definitely check it out. You get a chance to see our nature table, how we explore the life cycle, and even the littlest one has a butterfly treasure basket to play with. 

Keeping kids safe at the beach

I wasn't planning on writing this, however, today at the beach my family watched and tried to help two children at different times. These children like so many others get lost and then thankfully found on the beach. So it hit me, I need to write a few safety tips for people vacationing at the beach. I'm not an expert, but living at the beach has helped me become beach savvy.

These are some of the best tips for beach safety from a Local. (smile)

1. Before you get everyone out of the car, tell the kids the rules for setting up. For instance "While mom and dad set up the umbrella's and chairs, you all can lay out the beach blanket, AND NO running down to the water until we are ready." This way you don't have children running straight for the ocean. You can't set up and watch the children, it's just not safe.

2. Be smart and set up your spot right near the lifeguard chair, this way the children have extra eyes on them while they are in the water.

3. Take the time when you have your spot set up to point out your Red umbrella. If there are five other red umbrella's tell your children to look for the red umbrella and dad's Duke shirt over the chair. LANDMARKS that kids can easily spot.

4. Let your child know that if he can't find you, no matter what, go straight to the lifeguard. Lifeguards can help a lot faster than wandering children.

5. Be aware of what a rip tide looks like and what it does. Meet Penny has a great post on rip tides. Make sure your child know's if he is in a rip current DO NOT TRY TO SWIM AGAINST IT, he will just get tired out and that is how drowning happens. Go with the flow, please.

These 5 things can be done/talked about in the first 10 minutes of arriving at the beach and can save a child's life.

6. SUNSCREEN, I try to always remember to put it on my children before we even get down to the beach, but if you don't that's okay. Just make sure you put it on before the children run off to play. Also you should apply it every 2 hours, yes even the waterproof. The spray cans are easier but a lot less efficient It's better to lather them up with a lotion. The sun is hot and sunburn hurts. Not to mention it's terrible for their skin. Our top choices are Babyganics, Badger, and Banana Boat Natural.

7. I vote for bright colored rashguards. They aren't just for boys, girls can rock a cool looking rashguard too, and it protects their skin even more. The brighter colors are easier to spot in the ocean, therefore safer. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, rashguards are the shirts made for water, they dry quick and keep the sun away. They also guard your body from rashes while boogy boarding or surfboarding. We are loving the i play hats and rashguards.

8. For my children that are ages 9, 7, and 4 we have the buddy system, if one child needs to go to the bathroom (even though a parent goes) an older brother needs to go too. I feel safer, especially since my boys are using a men's bathroom now(if there is a family bathroom we use it, of course). Most of the time I'm still the crazy/safe mom that has the door propped 1/2 way open with my foot so I can hear what's going on. (smile) Keeping my kids safe is my #1 job.

9. Bring lot's of water, keeping yourself and the children hydrated is important.

10. Keep babies and animals out of the sun. If you take a baby to the beach make sure you have proper gear (canopy, tent, umbrella) to protect them, as well as protective clothing. Babies have thinner skin and don't regulate heat like adults do.

11. Remember the sun is the hottest between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm. So maybe think of going out in the morning for a walk on the beach, play for awhile then head in for lunch and a rest around 11. Go back out around 3 for a few more hours, this way you have missed most of the most dangerous hot sun. If you decide to stay out all day, just be aware that everyone needs more water, and sunscreen during this time of the day.

This was going to be 10 tips however, I felt it was important to get that 11th in.
I hope these tips help you have a wonderful, safe vacation.

                                                           HAVE FUN!!

Family Beach Days are the Best!!!!!