Hieroglyphics and Cuneiform

I wanted the kiddoes to understand that the civilizations building in both Mesopotamia and Egypt existed at the same time.  To bridge the two cultures, we spent a week discussing the similarities and differences in the writings that survive today from each culture.

In Mesopotamia, their writings were carved into clay while it was still wet, then baked to preserve the message.  The Egyptian writing, on the other hand, has been found on 2 mediums: stone tablets and papyrus.  Early writings were carved into stone tablets, and a few hundred years later, the Egyptians found a way to make paper from reeds and used this for writing.

The kiddoes used some alphabet charts from the Story of the World Activity Guide to draw their names in both languages.  Since the later Egyptians wrote on paper, they wrote their names in hieroglyphics on paper.

But cuneiform (the Mesopotamian writing) was formed with a series of wedges carved into wet clay.  So we formed our own tablets out of wet clay.

The kiddoes used pencils and other tools to recreate the wedge shapes to form their names in the clay.  We also used a straw to make 2 holes along the top of each tablet, and after letting them dry (we used air dry clay), we ran a string through the holes, and the kiddoes got to hang their cuneiform tablets on the wall in their rooms.

This project was a favorite of mine.  Putting your name (or a common word) into different languages is a fun and simple way to learn to compare and contrast.  They already knew how their names looked in English, and now they know how might have looked in other cultures.  They also had to create each, so they can understand similarities and differences in the "how" as well.  The final bonus: the kiddoes were so excited to display their creations and tell about what they learned.

--Little Miss Crazy