Egypt+Activities

Egypt Activities
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Early Elementary
toc Try to come up with the life (and death) story of our mummy. A Name Names were very important in ancient Egypt. Your name had to be preserved for you to have an afterlife. We don't know the name of our mummy, because it came to us without any information.
 * A Life**
 * 1) What did he do for a living?
 * 2) Was he married?
 * 3) How did he break his thumb and left toe?
 * 4) How did he lose his right big toe?
 * 5) Where in Egypt did he live? Where did he die?
 * 6) How did he die?
 * 7) Where was his mummy buried?
 * 8) How did the Theology Professor find this mummy when he traveled to Egypt in 1920?
 * Try to come up with a name that would be appropriate for the mummy so he can be secure in his next life.

Upper Elementary
Discover how you can make your own mummy. Have you ever wondered why every time you eat salty foods, you get thirsty? Or why fresh vegetables tend to shrivel up when you sprinkle salt on them? The answer is simple. Salt is a desiccant - it helps remove water from things, including human bodies. In this activity, you will experiment with different salt compounds and discover which makes the best mummified apple. [|(Newton's Apples)] Materials Questions 1. Which compound would seem to work best at making an apple mummy? 2. Would you have achieved the same results if you used a whole, unpeeled apple? Try it and find out. 3. What was the point of leaving one of the apple slices in a cup without any salt at all? 4. Where did the moisture in the slices go? How could you confirm this?
 * 2 fresh apples
 * large box of table salt
 * large box of Epsom salts
 * large box of baking soda
 * knife
 * eight 12-oz disposable plastic cups
 * measuring cup
 * large mixing bowl
 * permanent marking pen
 * roll of masking tape
 * sensitive balance or food scale
 * piece of graph paper and pencil
 * 1) Slice the two apples into quarters so that you have eight slices similar in size. Place a piece of tape on each cup and write the words "starting weight." Select one slice, weigh it, and record the weight on the outside of cup 1. Follow the same procedure with the other seven apple slices until each cup has been labeled with the appropriate starting weight.
 * 2) Add exactly 1/2 cup of baking soda to cup 1, making sure to completely cover the apple. Write the words "baking soda only" on the outside label. Fill cup 2 with 1/2 cup Epsom salts. Fill cup 3 with 1/2 cup table salt. Make sure you label each cup.
 * 3) Repeat the same procedure for cups 4-6 using a 50:50 mix of Epsom and table salts in cup 4, 50:50 mix of table salt and baking soda in cup 5, and a 50:50 mix of baking soda and Epsom salts in cup 6. Again, make sure each cup has the correct label.
 * 4) In cup 7 make a mixture of 1/3 baking soda, 1/3 Epsom salts, and 1/3 table salt. Leave cup 8 alone as a control. Place the cups on a shelf out of direct sunlight and let them sit for seven days. After a week has gone by, take out each apple slice, brush off as much salt as possible, and reweigh. (Do not rinse the apple off because that will rehydrate it.) Compare the starting and ending weights of each slice and calculate the percentage of weight which is moisture lost for each by dividing the difference in weight by the starting weight.

Fine Arts
Mummy Mask || || Cut a hole in a piece of poster board the size of your face. Be sure it is large enough for your forehead and chin to come through, but not your ears. || || || Next put a coating of petroleum jelly over your face. Lay flat. Next put a dampened paper towel over your face. Cut small holes for your nose. || ||  || Next cut strips of gauze. Dip the gauze in Plaster of Paris. Lay the coated strips over your face leaving an opening for your nose. Stay very still for 15 minutes while the plaster sets. || || || After carefully lifting the mask off your face. Cut the poster board in the shape of a mask. Then cover the mask with a thin layer of plaster. Fill in the nose holes. We added a row of masking tape and another layer of plaster to have a smooth transition between the plaster face and the rest of the board. || || || Spread a thin layer of plaster over the entire front of the mask. || || || Paint your mask. || Activity taken from []