Mummies in the Kitchen

You can't work on Egypt without doing some awesome mummy projects!  Our Egypt study was no different.  Although it would have made more sense to make our mummies during the weeks when we first discussed them, that was also the week we made pyramids.  I figured everyone would have a lot more fun if we split those two project groups up so we would have our fun stuff stretched out instead of having one very busy week with a few less interesting weeks.

Our discussion this week revolved around some of the better-known pharaohs of the New Kingdom of Egypt: Thutmose (aka the General), Hatshepsut (first female pharaoh), Akenaten (Egypt's first monotheist leader), and Tutankamen (the boy king buried with gold).  Athena was very impressed with Hatshepsut, and everyone was excited to talk about the curse on Tut's tomb.  However, the real fun was absolutely making mummies.

Athena read Aliki's Mummies Made in Egypt for additional background information and details.  We followed along with our Barbie 'corpse' for the process.

We drew marks with a Sharpie for the incisions to remove the organs.  I made little organs out of foam for us to "remove," and they each picked which one they wanted to "preserve." The kids laughed so hard when I literally threw the brain away (over my shoulder). We didn't have any little containers to put the other organs in, but they did go in the tomb when our mummy was ready to be buried.

They rubbed the doll with salt to represent the natron used in mummification, then washed it with oil (olive oil) and spices (cinnamon) before beginning the wrapping.  I also had the children choose some amulets which I made out of foam, and they included them in the mummy's wrappings.

They needed some grown-up help getting the mummy wrapped tightly (especially since our sarcophagus (being a pencil case) was a little cramped. :)  But in the end, it turned out very well and fit just fine.  The box from our Egypt kit became the mummy's tomb and inside we placed a statue and a necklace (also from the kit), along with the organs and of course our mummy in its sarcophagus.

Since the process of mummification itself is so interesting, we dedicated science time to it as well, so we got to do a second project: apple mummies!  Just a few simple ingredients but fun and interesting.

We sliced an apple in fourths (so they would easily fit in our cups and so the kids could see the effects on both the skin and flesh of the apples).  The first quarter we put into a cup with nothing added and set it aside.  The second quarter we put in a cup with 1/2 cup of salt mixed with 1/2 cup of baking soda for very basic solution.  And Goblin ate the other 2 quarters. :)

We left them on top of the cupboard for about a week and a half (I think it was closer to two weeks when we finally took a look at them, due to Easter falling in the middle), then inspected our results.

 

The kids all noticed that the salt and soda solution in the apple mummy's cup had hardened.  Everyone wanted to touch it, so I poured it into a dish.  The apple itself had darkened considerably and was curled tightly together.  They could tell it was much smaller than it had started out.

They compared it to the apple which had been by itself and found a lot of similarities (neither looked very edible according to Athena lol) and some differences: the apple mummy was much smaller and felt hard but the skin was smooth while the non-mummified apple was all wrinkly.

We all had such a good time this week, and it was really nice to be able to pull some science into our history discussions to show the kiddoes the why and how as well as the what. 

--Little Miss Crazy