In February, Culturebaby was in an adorable pointing phase, and as a
lifelong lover of all things Egyptian, nothing made me prouder than when
(alongside her pigs, cows and crayons) she identified Tutankhamun,
waved good morning to him, gave him a kiss and fed him a rusk. Little
did she know that this would have made little Tut extremely happy, and
that she was following the traditions of ancestors thousands of years
old. Ancient Egyptians took real food
with them into the afterlife, and relatives were expected to continue
to replenish this to ensure that the soul of the deceased had food for
eternity. This innocent act may also have rather irked the grander men
who followed the famous boy king's reign and took pains to erase the
memory of him and his Aten worshipping predecessor Akhenaten (belief in
one god was seen as heresy then). Ironically of course, the reason why
Tut is a household name is not only because of his great treasures
(fabulous as they are, they would have been pretty meagre when compared
with the grave goods of grander Pharaohs) but because they were found in tact.
And why? Because his small tomb was hidden below rubble from the
construction of tombs for later grander kings, which were robbed of
their treasures in antiquity. Happily this neglect saved the young
Pharaoh, and consequently Tut and his friends are alive and well in our
household... well in our picture books anyway.
Much of
Culturebaby's experience of Egypt to date had been from a small but much
loved trio of picture books, which we review below. So with that in
mind we went to see the mummies at the British Museum in the flesh
(quite literally). We had popped into the collection here and at the
Ashmolean when Culturebaby was much younger, but at 16 months, walking
and understanding so much, it was just the right time for her to find
the experience really exciting. A great way to start unlocking the
Egyptian collections is to focus on the familiar. Culturebaby is a huge
fan of animals, and so we went searching through the collections for our
favourites. At this stage, Culturebaby had quite a repertoire of animal
noises and loved pointing at the correct animal when asked "where is
the...?" We had a great time finding mummified cats, crocodiles, cows
and birds; bright green models of hippos; coffins with images of snakes
and beetles; and depictions of gods with the heads of dogs, hippos,
crocodiles, hawks and cats (to name but a few). Several of the cases are
also at toddler height, and as Culturebaby loves walking so much, she
was able to take my hand and lead me (narrowly avoiding being stomped on
by bigger Egypt enthusiasts) to what she found interesting too. With
the help of action songs we were also learning parts of the body, and we
thoroughly enjoyed identifying ancient heads, shoulders, knees and toes
in a number of gallery locations!
Beyond our fab trio, I've been shocked at the lack of decent Egyptology books for
under fives. My love affair
with Ancient Egypt began, not at a sensible nursery or school age when a
deluge of great books already soak the shelves, but apparently,
according to Culture Grandma, from the age of one. I mentioned in an earlier post
that The Manchester Museum Egyptian galleries were my favourite space, I
was on first name terms with the mummies before I was two and have been
captured on numerous photographs sporting an Egyptian headdress and
clutching a portrait of Tutankhamun. Yes, perhaps I was a little odd,
but perhaps not. Perhaps my mum just supported my early interests, took
me to such fascinating and stimulating galleries, read to me, did
projects with me and used her creativity to bring this magical
civilization alive. I don't think children should have to wait until
they are older to have the opportunity to fall in love with this
infectiously wonderful topic, but parents need the materials and
ideas. With this in mind, we were delighted to discover a February half term session for
Under 5s at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. This was enagaging and well designed and should be replicated everywhere!
First we were invited into the education rooms for a creativity
session. Culturebaby's older pals made cobra head-dresses, necklaces and
decorated mini coffin lids. They also made their own mummy
puppet-on-a-stick. Younger toddlers were also not neglected. There were
Egyptian themed treasure-baskets, sticklebricks to build a temple, and,
most excitingly, a sandpit full of Egyptian statues to excavate.
Culturebaby threw herself into the task, quite literally head first, and
proved to be an adept little Egyptologist, uncovering a number of
interesting objects. We were then offered a tour of the Egyptian
galleries for the under 5s. They had clearly thought about their mini
enthusiasts' interests very well, and provided a voyage of discovery
around the collection with an animal theme. The children were encouraged
to identify the appropriate statues, compare them to modern
photographs, make animal noises and look for interesting details, as
well as learning a bit about them. Culturebaby was really able to engage
with this, pointed and made the appropriate noises and when she was
asked to identify a snake on a crown, she pointed and then touched her
head. This tour then culminated with another great activity. The floor
had been covered with a really big sheet of paper with tissue paper
nile, trees and desert. The children were invited to select an animal
they had just seen, colour it in and add it to the appropriate habitat
on the floor. The children loved this activity, and even Culturebaby was
able to join in. We were really lucky to be able to be part of this
session, but even if you can't find anything similar - you can do some
of it yourself easily. 
So, here's our three must have books for your toddler Egyptologists:
1. One Blue Hippo, An Ancient Egyptian Counting Book - This beautiful little board book is produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, based on their collections, though we picked up our copy at the British Museum Shop. The recommended reading age is 3+ but this was a favourite with Culturebaby from very early on as it is compact, sturdy, colourful and contains simple but beautiful photographic images of creatures from Ancient Egyptian Art. Starting with the iconic blue hippo (a version of which Culturebaby clearly recognised in the BM collection) and then counting to ten from cats to cows and beetles, this book can engage the very young but also those learning to count. It prompts the reader to search for and recognise its contents in museum collections, and (as the activities we mention above also did so well) it plays on the interests of this age group - making the ancient accessible and relevant. There's also a handy two pages at the back with information on each artefact for the parent or slightly older child.2. Tickle Tut's Toes by Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo - This fabulous little book, from the 'Touch the Art' series, was an amazon discovery. Though it is aimed at ages 4+ because it has parts that can unravel, I'd really disagree with this and say the best audience is a supervised 1-2 year old. Like the engaging 'That's not my...' series, the appeal of this book is the touchy feely elements. Little paws can explore mummy wrappings, sandy sarcophagi and corrugated pyramids. It contains photographs, and a simple rhyming text. Whilst I'd say the design isn't perfect and the text is a little American, it is commendable in that it is the only thing of its kind that I've found. And it was this book, well thumbed already, that prompted Culturebaby to recognise and feed its striking eponymous hero, which is frankly good enough for me. Again there's a section at the back with context and information for each image.
3. We're Sailing Down the Nile, a Journey Through Egypt by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson - Barefoot Books are gorgeous. They aim to create bright, colourful books for children that combine beautiful artwork with captivating storytelling and this one is no exception. This beautiful book was a gift from a friend who clearly knows me extremely well!. Again aimed at the slightly older child, and with several pages of accessible factual material at the end which would be perfect for a primary school project, this book would have several lives in any household as it is also perfect for a toddler. The initial part of the book combines beautiful illustrations with the story of a family's (geographically accurate) journey down the Nile from Abu Simbel to Cairo. It is so accessible because it is bright and simple, with characters, and its text has a repetitive and rhyming progression.
If you're also interested in something slightly more lighthearted, we can also recommend a trio of other fun items. The British Museum has produced a series of historically themed rubber ducks. 'Ra' and his Viking and Roman pals Canute and Augusduck Caesar are now permanent fixtures in our bathtub. We also discovered a great 'dress up Tutankhamun' set of fridge magnets at Manchester Museum and finally in TKMaxx we fell across 'Tutankhamouse' a Pop-up Adventure. Again rhyming and with fun paper engineering, this small book seems to be loosely based on the biblical story of Joseph and culminates with a Sphinx made of cheese. Accurate it is not, but a fun intro to Egypt it certainly is. Sadly several statues have been beheaded (do supervise)...
