Ancient History Lessons

The Ancient World

These sites contain information on more than one culture or time period.

World Cultures
Art,music, customs, multicultural art

World History
Resource site which is specifically designed for World History classes. Each culture/time period is divided into categories of Art, Biographies, Daily Life, Maps, Pictures and Research.

Empires
Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient World Exhibit.

Books to Supplement History
Chronological list of both fiction and nonfiction books to supplement the study of periods of history.

The Ancient World
The period of time covered in this examination of the ancient civilizations is the years 4,000 B.C. to 500 A.D.

Ancient and Lost Civilizations
Lots of info and pictures.

Historical Headgear, Hats, & Helmets
This book supplies full-sized patterns and templates and gives step-by-step fully illustrated instructions on how to create 14 different historically accurate hats using everyday materials like construction paper, poster board, grocery sacks, and duct tape. Pictures of each hat on the website.

Israel and the Beginning of Time

Bible Lessons
Links and activities for you Biblical history studies

Israel For Kids
The Jewish Children's Learning Network

Israel's Beginnings
KidsPast.com

Old Testament Bible Lapbook
Homeschool In the Woods

New Testament Bible Lapbook
Homeschool In the Woods

Middle Eastern House and Shop
papercraft

Dinosaurs and the Bible Notebook Pages
Lilliput Station

The Ice Age and the Bible Notebook Pages
Lilliput Station

Mesopotamia

Sumerians
Lots of nice pictures

Sumerian Children's Songs
Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs, Nursery Rhymes and Traditional Music from Around the World

Ancient Mesopotamia For Kids
Ancient Sumer

Examples of Cuneiform
scripts: Sumerian

Sumerian Notebook Pages and Minibook
Lilliput Station

The Sumerians Notebooking Pages
Notebooking Nook

Heroes and Gods of Ancient Sumer Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Ancient Mesopotamia Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Hammurabi's Code
Games and information

Epic of Gilgamesh Activities
Make a dirorama in a shoebox showing a scene from the story. For instance, your diorama could show a king sleeping under a tree with a snake somewhere nearby. If you are a Christian, you could print John 17:17 and place it in the background to emphasize the difference between distorted stories and the truth of the Bible.

You could also do a research project comparing flood stories in different cultures.

Make Cuneiform Tablets
Don't forget to take pictures for your notebooks!
Use sugar or gingerbread cookie dough to create "clay" tablets. Allow children to press triangles into the dough using the end of a chopstick or other blunt object. Bake and eat!

"Hammurabi's Code Says" Game
The player who is chosen to be it stands in front of the other players and begins giving commands such as "Hammurabi's Code says stand on one foot." "Hammurabi's code says touch your nose." As long as the command begins with "Hammurabi's Code says," the other players should follow the instructions. But if the player who is it gives a command such as "Stop hopping" instead of saying "Hammurabi's Code says stop hopping," the command should not be obeyed. Any player who follows the instructions must "suffer the penalty of the law" (AKA they are out.) Play continues until there is only one player remaining. That player becomes it and the game starts over again!

Egypt

Egypt Unit Study
free PDF from Nearly Free Homeschooling, includes lapbook

Virtual-Egypt - The Egyptian People's Papyrus
An educational resource about ancient Egypt. Learn about pyramids, hieroglyphics, mummys, view articles, photos and multimedia.

Clickable Mummy
Click on different parts of the Mummy to view interesting facts and information about the mummification process.

Walk Like an Egyptian
Unit Plan

Make Your Own Cartouche
Type in your name and print out your own personal cartouche.

Ancient Egypt Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Egyptian Mummies Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Egyptian Pyramids Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Great Pyramid
papercraft

Spynx
papercraft

Early Egyptians Unit
As posted on my blog in February of 2006.

Did you know that people used to grind up mummies and use them as medicine? Ugh! Today, as part of our study of ancient Egypt, we mummified an apple/orange pharaoh and the kids were gobbling down the orange "innards" as we scooped them out. Personally, I think that's taking the analogy a little too far, don't you?
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This is our second week in Egypt and we are having so much fun. We have made snake-headed throwing sticks from wooden spoons, played senet, had an Egyptian market, and started on our mummy. We also wrapped one of the kids up in t.p. so he looked like a mummy.

We will also be doing painting, learning to draw like an Egyptian, making Egyptian clothes and jewelry, making pyramids, and doing Egyptian math and studying Egyptian fractions. We are reading The Cat of Bubastes by G A Henty and many other good books. We will also be reading some books on modern Egypt and studying about the Coptic church. If I am feeling brave, we may even make rhubarb papyrus. We plan to do an Egyptian feast at the end.
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After three weeks in Egypt, I decided it was time for us to move on. Today was spent finishing up projects and notebook pages. We made our bracelets, headbands and collars and put on "kohl" (black eye make-up) and our one black wig and posed for a group photo with some of the projects we've made. This will go in our school yearbook.

Our "feast" was a great success. We had fish and fowl (cornish game hens), both liberally seasoned with garlic and onions; lentils, also heavy on the onions; and wheat and millet flat bread spread with roast garlic. We also had cucumbers, melon, dates, figs, and grapes. And (root) beer to drink. Our breath was something to fear, but it all tasted delicious. An old Keith Green song kept running through my mind . . . "eating leeks and onions by the Nile. Oh, what breath! We're dining out in style .

The Far East

Ancient China for Kids
People/Places/Festivals Daily Life/Culture Philosophies/Religion

Traveling Through the Middle Kingdom
China Unit Study

Let's Learn About Japan
Japan Unit Study

Ancient China: A Homeschool Unit Study
Learn About the Greatest Ancient Civilization of Asia

Great Wall of China
papercraft

Forbidden City
papercraft

Greece

Ancient Greece
An Award winning Educational Reference site with indepth compilations on all aspects of Ancient Greece, including it's People, Culture, Beliefs and Accomplishments.

Archimedes Home Page
This site is a collection of Archimedean miscellanea under continual development.

Ancient Greece Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Ancient Greece Unit & Lapbook
Homeschool Share

Parthenon Papercraft
Canon

How To Dress In a Greek Chiton
Costume Idea

Greece Projects
As posted on my blog in February of 2006.

Our first project was painting amphoras. We used black acrylic paint on terra cotta flower pots. There are some amphora coloring pages online here and here. You can also use scratch art to make a paper representation of an amphora. Color really hard with red crayon, cover
with black tempra paint, allow it to dry, and scratch your pattern onto the pot. We also made mosaic placemats using colored paper and laminating envelopes. We were going to make frescos, but we never got around to it. But we did build a papercraft model of the Parthenon and the Lighthouse of Alexandria!

We made jewelry by glueing a coil of hemp cord flat onto 1 1/2 inch circles of cardboard, painting them with gold paint, and glueing "jewels" in the centers. These were glued along lengths of cord for necklaces. Bigger circles with smaller jewels glued around the (top) outside edge were used for belt buckles on thick gold ribbons.

Rome

Ancient Rome
The Roman Republic & Julius Caesar, Roman Law & Economy, Empire, Emperors, & Warfare, Roman Women & Daily Life, Art, Architecture, Literature, Religion, & Engineering, Early Christianity, the Byzantine Empire

Ancient Rome Unit Study
free PDF from Nearly Free Homeschooling

Ancient Rome Lapbook
Hands of A Child

Roman Soldier Papercraft
Canon


Colosseum Papercraft
Canon

Hadrian's Wall Papercraft
This model is fairly simple to assemble. We actually modified it slightly by making a couple of cuts on the ends so that it could be folded flat and glued it into our notebooks as a pop-up.

How To Dress In a Roman Toga
Costume Idea

Make Your Own Roman Soldier Costume
Costume Idea

Rome Projects
Our co-op did a study of art last year (2009). The children were supposed to create art projects to represent the art of each period studied. The project for the Roman period was mosaics. Since my older children had already studied Ancient Rome a few years before, they were not very excited about creating mosaics with scraps of paper. With five children participating in the class, the materials for real mosaics were too expensive. Finally, my son and I came up with the idea of creating a mosaic on a large sugar cookie using frosting and assorted dried fruit.



The mini paper mosaic was made by my daughter. She added it to the art museum diorama she created for several of the time periods studied.

The British Isles

Information on the Celts
Wikipedia

BBC Wales - Education - Iron Age Celts
Dig deep into the lives of the Iron Age Celts through games, stories and activities. For 7-11 year olds.

Celtic Knotwork Tutorial
In less than one hour, you will learn how to draw knotwork, in the celtic or the arabic manner, like those in illuminated bibles or corans such as the Book of Kells or the nice tribal tatoos.

Make Your Own Celtic Roundhouse
Papercraft

Make Your Own Celtic Jewelery
Use the stencil to make your own Wheel Brooch.

Printable Short Stories for Kids
A collection of Kids Celtic Fairy Tales and tales from Children's Literature. Irish short stories for children.

Celtic Symbols
Copyright-free images of Celtic Symbols to use in lapbooks or on notebook pages.

Celtic Oat Cakes
16 oz. oatmeal
3/4 cup flour
2 t. baking soda
2 oz. butter, melted
1 t. salt
water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Add butter, mix well. Boil water and stir as you add it gradually to the oat mixture until you have a firm dough. Turn dough onto a board which has been sprinkled with flour and a little oatmeal. Roll until dough is 3/8 inch thick. Cut into 24 circles with a a biscuit cutter.or the open end of glass. Place circles on a greased baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes. Cool before serving. Eat plain or with butter, honey, or cheese.

Printables

Notebooks are a great place to store all the coloring pages, narrations, maps, and activity pages you complete. You can also add pictures of projects you make. Visit my notebooking page to learn more about this fun way of learning!

Creation to Gideon
Sixty-nine pages covering twenty-seven Ancient and Biblical history topics. This set includes notebook pages for each lesson and activity or coloring pages for each lesson.



Sampson To Jeremiah
Sixty-three pages covering twenty-seven Ancient and Biblical history topics. This set includes notebook pages for each lesson and activity or coloring pages for each lesson.



Ancient History Lapbook Elements and Notebook Pages
Lilliput Station

Ancient History Notebooking Pages
Notebooking Nook

Creation To the Fall of Rome
Highland Heritage Forms

Mystery of History Volume 1 Pages
Homeschool Launch

Ancient Times History Notebooking Pages
NotebookingPages.com

Free Historical Paper Dolls
Paper Dali