Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

We are time traveling to Ancient Greece in Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time The Third Journey Through Time. And we’re building a fun Greek water clock. Be sure to grab more Geronimo Stilton Books ideas and crafts on my page.

Our favorite adventuring mouse gets to wander through Athens in 434 BCE. He meets Xanthippe, the wife of famous philosopher Socrates, and Socrates too.

After exploring the Greek alphabet, he visits The Symposium.

He is really living his best life, isn’t he?

These books give amazing vocabular and detailed descriptions of clothing for the period.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time The Third Journey Through Time

In addition, they show architecture and important people of the time to give the young reader a fun glimpse into whatever historical era he ends up in.

Before we make the water clock, look at some of these resources.

I have many resources to make this wonderful book a full literature unit study.

Ancient Greece Resources

Add these resources to your day to make learning come alive or do a full unit study.

• Fun Ancient Greece Homeschool Unit Study and Lapbook
• Play Ancient Greece Go Fish
• Add a reference book like Tools of the Ancient Greeks. This is another fun book to compliment Geronimo for a deeper dive into Ancient Greece.

• Make this Ancient Greek Chariot for your own chariot races.
• Enjoy a little taste of a favorite of Greeks of long ago and Make Baklava.
• Create this Ancient Greece Pottery Activity.
• Kids DIY Knucklebones
• Great Big List of Ancient Greece Freebies
• Ancient Greek Theatre Mask
• 9 EASY and Fun Hands-on Ancient Greece Kids Activities

In addition, I have many crafts to go with some of the books in the Geronimo Stilton series.

Other Geronimo Stilton Chapter Book Activities

Next, look at these other crafts to go with the books.

• Out Of Time Fun Sir Francis Drake Ship Craft
• Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time Series Fifth Journey Fun Eiffel Tower
• 10 Things to Learn From The Fun Geronimo Stilton Chapter Books
• Geronimo Stilton The Fourth Journey Through Time Fun Cleopatra Collar
• Learn About Mozart The Eight Journey Through Time Geronimo Stilton Series
• The Geronimo Stilton Book Fourth Journey Fun Egypt Game
• Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time Craft a Fun England Tower Guard
• Mouse in Space Fun Puffy Moon Craft (Glow in the Dark)
• Down and Out Down Under Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef
• Field Trip to Niagara Falls Summary And Fun Corn Craft
• The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time Colosseum Craft
• The Race Against Time Geronimo Stilton Activities: Fun Edible Spine
• Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time Mayan Craft
• The Curse of The Cheese Pyramid Barbie Mummy
• Who Is Geronimo Stilton Rodent Notebooking Page

Then, here are a few more facts about The Greeks.

Amazing Ancient Greek Facts

• Roughly one third of Ancient Greeks were slaves.
• Greeks called themselves Hellenes.
• The Ancient Greeks invented the Yo-Yo.
• The Greek alphabet came into being around about 1000 BC.
• Many Ancient Greeks wore a chito which is a long shirt made from a single large piece of cotton.
• The Greeks really loved to learn. They felt that learning was one of the best ways you could spend your time.
• The basic crops that were grown in Ancient Greece were wheat, barley, olives, and grapes.
• Romans were considered big copycats of the Greeks. They copied a lot of the Greek culture.  Everything from their gods, to architecture, language, and even what and how they ate.

Finally, look below at how to make this fun water clock.

We are going to create our own version of a Greek water clock.

A water clock or clepsydra was used in Ancient Greece to measure time by regulating the flow of water.

As water moved from one vessel to another in a certain period, they measured it.

Water would drip through a hole in the bottom of a filled container into the bottom one.

Often, the bottom container was marked with the hours of the day so that they could tell time by how full the vessel became.

Basically it is an hourglass with water instead of sand to simplify it.

It also happens to be one of the oldest ways to tell time from the ancients.

How to Make an Ancient Greek Water Clock

You will need:

• Two 16-20 oz. bottles with lids
• Water
• A sharpie marker
• Hot glue or e6000
• A timer
• Drill/small drill bit.

Pull the label off both bottles and wash the bottles well (especially if they were soda bottles).

Remove the caps and drill a small hotel through both caps, in the center, and line them up as close as you can.

Glue the two caps together, flat top to flat top, take care not to get glue in your holes and plug it up. You can reverse this order if it’s easier to line up the holes after gluing.

Start with 1 cup of water and pour it into one of your bottles, mark the line where the water stops. 

You may want to open the bottle backup and add more later if you want the timer to go longer.

Screw the glued tops onto the empty bottle and then flip it and screw it onto the bottle with water.

Get your timer ready, as soon as you flip the bottle and the drops begin to go through, start the timer.

Mark the water line in the bottom bottle at 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.

Reverse the bottles and do the same on the other side.

You now have an awesome low tech timer for games, quizzes, or cooking and a little better understanding of how time was kept in Ancient Greece.

What do you think? Ready to make this?