Children can derive many benefits from learning history:
- History provides identity.
- Studying history improves our decision making and judgment.
- It shows us models of good and responsible citizenship.
- History teaches us how to learn from the mistakes of others.
- It helps us understand change and societal development.
- History provides us a context from which to understand ourselves and others.
Learn about Ancient Egypt
One of the many fascinating topics children can learn about in history is the one about the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamum.
Tutankhamun, more affectionately known as King Tut or the “Boy King”, was an Egyptian pharaoh from the 18th dynasty who acceded the Egyptian throne at the tender age of 9 years.His original name, Tutankhaten, means “Living Image of Aten”, while Tutankhamun means “Living Image of Amun”. His tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.
The Pyramids – Touchpress Limited
This beautiful iPad app from Touchpress allows you to explore the incredible pyramids and tombs of ancient Egypt. Fly around the plateau where the pyramids and the Sphinx are located at Giza near Cairo. Enter and wander around the labyrinthine tombs and passageways. Examine stunning wall paintings in incredible detail, rotate royal statues and spin 3D objects. Everything has been painstakingly recreated from ultra-high-resolution digital imagery captured on location in Egypt by Sandro Vannini, the world’s greatest photographer of archeological sites and antiquities.
To help explain and illuminate the world of the ancient Egyptians, there is an accompanying interactive book, specially written by world-renowned Egyptologist, Zahi Hawass with other expert archeologists. Touch any painting or object in the pyramids and tombs to discover what they represent, who made them and what place they have in the culture of the Old Kingdom. This exquisite app breaks new ground in presenting the treasures of the past and bringing them alive in your hands on the iPad.
Britannica Kids: Ancient Egypt – Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc
Ancient Egypt is the perfect app for exploring the secrets of hieroglyphics, mummification, the Pyramids, Tutankhamen, Cleopatra, and other popular Egyptian topics. Learn and play at the same time through a variety of games like Memory Match, Jigsaw Puzzles, and the Magic Square among others. Learning about ancient Egypt has never been more fun with this quick, interactive, and educational app based on the school curriculum.
Recommended for: 8-12 year olds.
What your children will learn:
- The Ancient Egyptian World
- Dynasties of Egypt
- The River Nile
- Gods and the Afterlife
- Writing
- Everyday life
- Egyptian Gods (featuring 14 of the most prominent Gods )
App Features:
- Map – With this amazing tool you can locate where you are anywhere in the world. Want to see the Pyramids? It’s easy with our map tool, and use the zoom feature to see one of the largest structures ever built up close and personal!
- Jigsaw Puzzles, created from amazing graphics of ancient Egypt. Break apart the puzzle and have some fun by shaking your device and then sliding the pieces back into place to complete the puzzle – it’s not as easy as it looks!
- Scramble images of ancient Egypt in The Magic Square game by shaking your device. Challenge yourself by re-arranging the squares to unscramble the image.
- Brush off – brush the layers to reveal images of ancient Egypt and then try to guess what it is – how many can you answer correctly?
- Test your knowledge on ancient Egypt with the Quiz feature – how much have you learned? But hurry: you must answer quickly as the quiz is timed!
- Test your memory with the popular Memory Match game and match up the pairs!
More from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Ancient Egypt – Kids Discover
Travel back in time to a mysterious land where pharaohs still rule, mummies abound, and workers construct massive pyramids and sphinxes under the hot African sun. Kids will explore the Great Temple at Abu Simbel with a virtual animation, experience daily life and culture in Ancient Egypt, and discover the birth of hieroglyphics in this interactive reading app.
Recommended for: Upper Elementary and Middle School
What your kids will learn:
- The Gift of the Nile
- Mighty Pharaohs
- Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
- Gods, Priests, and Temples
- Hieroglyphics
- Pyramid Builders
- Mummy Makers and the Afterlife
Egyptian Hieroglyphs – Eyelid Productions Ltd
There are more than 1000 glyph illustrations including 400 Egyptian word examples and over 500 hieroglyphs from the Gardiner list. This app includes detailed information on the history of Egyptian writing and mathematics, the use of the different types of symbols, how to write your name, how to recognize kings names and the story of the scribe with a video showing how papyrus is made.
The Hieroglyphic Typewriter and Math Calculator is included. The on screen QWERTY keyboard incorporates alphabet and number symbols together with a selection of determinative signs. The keys include Latin symbols together with their hieroglyph equivalents and descriptions, which allow you to type messages naturally and at a glance see the translations. You can quickly write names and short secret messages and then with the email function you send the results by email.
Great Pyramid 3DA
Explore the Great Pyramid in Giza – the oldest and the last surviving momument of the original Seven Ancient wonders of the World. Walk around, fly above and enter inside and investigate the 3D interior in real time. The Eye of Horus shows or hides the menu, buttons with symbols allow you to move in various ways and see the pyramid from different perspectives and icons of individual rooms serve as a navigation and help you with orientation in this magnificent structure.
More resources online:
- Ancient Egypt – the British Museum
- BBC for Kids:
- Egyptians: Mummy Maker Game – Prepare the body of Ramose for burial
- Egyptians: Pyramid Challenge – Build the pharaoh’s tomb
- Discovering Ancient Egypt
Free Downloadable Lesson on Ancient Egypt
Now, for a limited time, Educents is offering a FREE lesson for kids about Ancient Egypt that you can download! This freebie has several activities included in this pack, including reading comprehension, math review, map skills, and timeline practice, so there are a multiple ways to use them.
Hieroglyphics Math
Use these fun pages to practice place value and/or addition and subtraction skills! Page 12 of the King Tut Mini-Unit Freebie asks students use the symbols to determine the number. The following page goes a step further and asks students add or subtract numbers.
Fun facts about Ancient Egypt:
- The Egyptian alphabet contained more than 700 hieroglyphs!
- Egyptians believed cats were a sacred animal and having a pet cat would bring a household good luck.
- Ancient Egyptians invented pens, toothpaste, and a game very similar to bowling.
Mini Bio: King Tut – Here’s a mini bio about King Tut to go with your mini unit!
Ancient Egypt Lapbook – Study interesting facts about the discovery of hieroglyphic writing, the Rosetta Stone, the great King Tutankhamun, the lovely Cleopatra and more.
Recipes From Egypt – Delight your little cooks with two authentic and easy-to-make recipes from Egypt: Tameya (the original veggie burger), and Basboosa (Semolina cake with honey and lemon).
My Book About Egypt – My Book About Egypt takes elementary students to the cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Damietta, and Giza. Want free lessons for kids about Ancient Egypt?
Download the King Tut Mini-Unit Freebie on Educents!
Nurture for the Future 