Discover the Wonders of our World!
Can I just say that this has been the coolest ‘dig’ project we have done to date? In our year-long quest at learning about Ancient Egypt (more on that in some upcoming posts..), I knew we had to hit on Egyptian mummies at some point. I wanted to make the topic interesting and educational without the idea of a mummy as spooky. Can you talk about the process of mummification in a way that doesn’t freak out kids? Sure!
While the first mummifications took place ‘accidentally’ in Ancient Egypt, as the shallow pit graves in the hot, dry sand allowed for natural preservation, it was not long before Egyptians began very elaborate burial practices based on religious and cultural hierarchy and produced very sophisticated methods of embalming. Now, while mummy-making cultures existed all over the world, Egypt is still best known for its mummification probably because of the frequency it happened and that it just didn’t extend to humans (cats, for example, were mummified in the same way as humans and typically took 70 days per body.)
Archaeology, the study of human history through discovery and research of materials, is so important in how we decipher our past. Ancient Egypt has many more mysteries to uncover although archaeologists have discovered things like past epidemics and diseases such as cancer to beauty trends like hair weaves that are put together like pieces of a puzzle to understand the ancient world.
You and your child can pretend to be a modern-day archaeologist who is digging up an earthen block to find a mummy in Egypt. GeoCentral’s kit includes a block, special digging tools, a brush, a roll of paper tape to wrap your mummy and a cool sarcophagus to store your discovery. This kit turned out to be even cooler than I expected and the level of detail in the product is impressive. Time and patience is needed while using the tools so you do not damage your find within the loose block of pressed sand and I suggest using wooden chopsticks as additional digging tools if you plan to have more than one archaeologist. It is definitely a messy project so using a mat, towel or doing your dig outside is a great tip! You can’t be a good archaeologist without being in the dirt! We also used some gauze from our first aid kit to wrap our mummy instead of the paper tape included to give it more of an authentic feel. For the great price of this kit, I was quite pleased at the level of fun it was for Brooke and how unique the experience was for learning about Ancient Egypt, archaeology and mummies. In fact, I plan to get another kit as an upcoming birthday party activity because it is definitely worth it!
List Price: $ 10.99
Momma's Bacon 