The Pyramids of Giza...A Fun Rice Crispy Treat!

Since we are studying Ancient Egypt in our homeschool (and we will continue to do so for a while because we are having so much fun!), I thought it would be fun to make the Pyramids of Giza out of Rice Crispy treats.

To make the pyramid treats, I combined rice crispies, melted marshmallows, and  melted butter (I didn't measure anything) and pressed it into a pyramid sand mold.  I hid m & m treasures throughout the pyramids.


This was a simple and fun activity, but the girls were SO involved in playing with their Kaya (American Girl) paper dolls that they were (shockingly) not interested in helping me make the pyramids until I was almost finished.

O(6) arranged the pyramids on the tray, and they helped spread the brown sugar sand around the pyramids.  They were VERY excited to eat these delicious pyramids!


We used the pyramid mold that is made by Hape.  It is a little smaller than I was hoping, but it worked perfectly.  We've also had fun making sand pyramids on our beach, and  I have a few other fun activities planned for this pyramid.

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Making Clay Tablets

After reading about the Sumerians writing on clay tablets and the Ancient Egyptians making clay bowls, we decided to make our own.  We had fun getting very messy!  I made several tablets, and O(6) made her handprint on one.  O tried to make a couple of bowls, but they fell apart.







E(2) loved writing on the tablets with twigs.



We traced her hand.


O asked if she could put clay on her face, and she seemed surprised when I said yes.  Then she seemed REALLY surprised when she asked if she could put clay in her hair and I said yes!


E quickly copied her and covered her hair with clay, too.  It was a fun and messy afternoon!

After they washed off in the lake, got sprayed off with the waterhose, and had a shower, we had a snack and watched a show about ancient Egypt via Discovery Streaming.  Since we'd read about the Ancient Egyptians eating figs, I went out to our fig tree and picked a few figs (the girls were too hot and tired to join me...it was close to 100 degrees).  They don't really like figs, so I put cheese on them, and O loved them.  E ate the cheese, but not the figs.

Excavating Ancient Egyptian Treasures

The girls and I have had a fantastic time excavating ancient Egyptian treasures this week!  The idea for this activity has been bouncing around in my head for a while, so I was excited when we finally reached the Egyptian chapters in our history curriculum!

To set up this activity, you need the Ancient Egyptians toob (link at the end of the post), sand, a wooden box  (I used the box that our Melissa and Doug unit blocks came in), a magnifying glass, and a paintbrush.


I put the list that came with the toob in the box, so that we would know what we were looking for. You'll want to do this activity outside or have a broom nearby because it's almost impossible to keep the sand from getting on the floor!





We searched through the box with our paintbrushes.  I used the end of brush and stuck it in the box a few times to try to find objects, and O was quick to caution me against this because I might damage the treasures!



There was lots of excitement in our house when O(6) uncovered the pyramids of Giza!



We matched the figures to the list and read about each figure as we found it.



After we finished the activity, the girls had lots of practice sweeping!



O had to get out the electric sweeper to get all of the sand.  Once the weather cools off, we'll start doing this activity on our deck!

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