ancient civilizations

How to Make a Kids’ Fun Ceremonial African Tribal Mask

December 22, 2020 | 2 Comments
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Ceremonial African Tribal Mask

This week we created our own ceremonial African tribal mask after doing some research about their uses and how they are made.

We have been studying all about Africa, it’s customs, weather, regions, zoology, peoples, and geography.

This project we are sharing with you today is perfect for mid elementary up through middle school.

Tribal masks play very important roles in many traditional African ceremonies and rituals even in these modern times.

Some symbolize totem animals, others are representative of tribal mythology, they are believed to help communicate and convey messages to spirits.

Some masks are made and used in times of peace and also in times of war, and to ensure good harvests.

They are worn for weddings, funerals, and initiation rites of passage.

Mask making is an art that is passed from father to son in African culture.

Too, if you are studying Africa with any depth, this is a project that you definitely want to focus on.

How to Make an African Paper Mask

You learn history, but also the culture of certain regions; your child gets a glimpse into the artwork which these interesting peoples create and consider important to their culture.

First, gather these easy supplies. Here is what you will need to create your own mask.

Scrapbook/Construction paper
Glue
Scissors
Hole punch

Hole punch
Paint, brushes
Raffia/twine
paint/paintbrush

Directions:

Crease a full sheet of sturdy paper right down the center, this will be the main piece of your mask.

On one side pencil in a large mask shape. If you have already done some research you should have an idea of what type of mask you would like.

Masks are usually shaped like a human face or animal muzzle, but very abstract.

Kids’ African Mask

We are going with a commonly seen elongated face shape that is symmetrical and it gives me a chance to reintroduce and review what symmetrical means with the kids.

Cut out both sides at the same time following the half shape you drew.

When decorating tribal masks many elements are used like shells, horns, feathers, broken egg shells, seeds, straw, and animal hair.

Cut out your elements like the nose, ears, and eyes from neutral colored paper, which are the colors most commonly chosen in Africa.

While size and shapes are exaggerated, they are still pretty simple.

To make your features symmetrical, fold your paper in half like you did the poster board. Only draw half the shape on one side, but cut out of both side on the fold.

Start with the nose, eyes, and ears and build up with decoration from there.

Again if you are cutting one piece like a nose, fold it in half, draw the shape, and cut it out.

How to Make Tribal Masks with Paper

If you are cutting two pieces like eyes just cut through two pieces of paper at the same time so that they are the exact same size and shape.

Next, glue all your elements into place, remember to place your pencil line side face down so you don’t see it.

To create the hair and beard details, we punched holes along the edges where we wanted them and knotted twine through the holes.

If you knot it like a regular knot the ties will go out sideways.

If you want it to stick straight up and down, fold your length of string in half and push the loop through the hole you made.

African Mask Ideas for Kids

Too, if you’re looking to add Art History to your curriculum, we love Art History Kids.

Goal of Art History Kids

To introduce kids to art.
Let them come to their own conclusions.
And, encourage their own individual creativity.

Then, slide the other two ends through the loop and pull firmly but gently.

Add some final details with paint, like the dots we did here.

We used the back end of the brush to create round uniform dots to give our mask some additional texture and interest.

If your child enjoys more sensory input you can also use fingertips to add paint to the mask.

Allow your creation to dry, you can either leave it as it is or glue the mask to a sturdier piece of cardboard or poster board to display and keep it longer.

Learning the Culture of Africa Through Picture Books

If you want to make this a fun unit study topic about world cultures, you’ll love the study guide notes and coloring pictures by Beautiful Feet Literature.

Although these guides state they’re for your younger kids, I think picture books are wonderful for all ages. Who doesn’t love pictures?

However, if your middle school kids want some other literature choices, look at this Early American Enrichment which honors the legacy of some African Americans and American Indians at the time when America was young.

Additionally, look at these picture book options below.

Part One covers Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica.

This Around the World With Picture Books Part Two covers Europe and South America.

Lastly, if you want to expand on your Africa study no matter if you are using a box curriculum or if you are doing a simple interest led study here are some ideas that you and your child can try…

African Geography and Culture Homeschool Unit Study Ideas

List the different countries with Africa in alphabetical order. This is great practice for learning alphabetical order but also geography, handwriting, vocabulary, and spelling. I am a big fan of activities that cover more than one skill.
Dig deeper by researching what various masks and their elements represent and what regions they are from.
Create several different masks representing different areas or traditions.
Families with one or more children can create an art show with African art to share with friends and family.
Research other cultures and countries that wear masks, what are they worn for?
Visit a local museum with an Africa exhibit to see relics or replicas first hand.

Watch this documentary on PBS about an African Mask Collection.

You’ll love these other hands-on activities:

Are you studying about Africa? What activities have you been doing?

Hugs and love ya,

Quick and Easy Ancient Chinese Paper making for Kids

December 23, 2018 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Ancient Chinese Paper Making

Did you know that the smooth white paper you write on everyday got its start in Ancient China right around 100 BC during the Han Dynasty? Prior to the invention of paper as we know it there was papyrus and parchment that people could write on, but it was expensive and very difficult to make. In China expensive silk was also used but that was reserved for only the very wealthy. That means that it was not readily available to everyone.

Did you know that the smooth white paper you write on everyday got its start in Ancient China? Your kids will love this quick and easy Ancient Chinese paper making activity. CLICK HERE to add this fun hands-on history project to your homeschool curriculum!

Its invention meant that people of all economic backgrounds could learn and write. Because it absorbed ink, forgery was harder and it made carrying a book so much easier! Just a stack of paper sheets is much lighter than carrying a dozen hand chiseled tablets across town. Teachers had to be smart and strong!

Plant fibers and rags were soaked in water until they became a pulpy mush then they were mashed and pressed onto screens in different sizes so that the water could drain off. Once dry the paper was much lighter and easier to use than its heavier ancestor.

Since bamboo and other plant fibers are not as readily available to us as it was in 100 BC we are going to improvise with our own paper making and use supplies that we have on hand so that we can still get an idea of the paper making process.

Chinese Paper Making Activity

For this activity you will need:

newspaper
art paper or construction paper
water
Hardware screen/window screen
wood/frame
a blender
plastic tub

You can buy paper making screens or you can make a simple one like we did here, by making a simple frame of wood scraps and stapling a square of hardware cloth to the back. You could also do the same with a piece of window screen and the backside of a picture frame.

Tear your paper into smaller pieces, about 1” square. Now we are going to hurry along our paper dissolving process by adding water and paper to a blender.

Run the blender until you get a nice watery pulp, add water as needed to make sure it purees up well, you can’t have too much water as it will drip off. I used white drawing paper and one small piece of blue construction paper to get a very light blue shade. In ancient China this process would have been done by a long soak of bark, hemp, bamboo, and other plant materials rather than a blender!

Lay the frame in a tub large enough to hold it and pour the mixture from the blender onto the screen, flatten it out with your fingers so that it is as smooth as you can get it. The trick is to pour slowly and move it rather than pouring a giant pile in the center.

Let most of the water drain off your screen until it is just a slow drip then carefully flip your screen to release the paper onto an absorbent surface, I used a sheet of craft felt for mine.

Press a stack of several paper towels or napkins on top and press to absorb some of the water. Place a block of wood on top and press or even stand on it to press it flat and squeeze more water out. Allow your paper to dry completely- it may take a day or two depending on how much water is left in your paper at this point as well as the humidity in your area.

Once your paper is completely dry you can trim it with scissors if you like to make it a more uniform shape. Still not flat enough? Lay it under a couple of heavy books for a few days and it will be smooth and flat for your writing.

Use a small paintbrush to paint a few basic Chinese characters as part of your studies.

Experiment with different types and colors of paper, brown paper bags make a nice parchment style paper, add a little color, and cut some into various shapes.

Ancient China Paper Making Fun Facts

Paper making hasn’t changed much in all these years, basically the process is the same with new technologies and methods added in.
China tried to keep the art of paper making a secret but it eventually spread.
A Chinese government official, Ts’ ai Lun, is credited with starting the paper making industry.
It was another 1000 years before paper making spread into other parts of Eurasia.
The original paper making was originally done with mainly hemp.
The oldest record of paper making that we have is dated 105 AD.
Combined with the invention of woodblock printing in 600 AD China was able to print its first newspaper in 740 AD.

You’ll love some of these other fun hands-on Ancient Civilization kids activities:

Hands-on Ancient Mesopotamia: Easy STEM Irrigation Activity

November 30, 2018 | 3 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The study of Mesopotamia is one of our middle school requirements. I’ve been really surprised by how much fun we’ve been having studying about this time period. I’m sure the STEM projects we have been including may have something to do with it! We have this next one ready which is an easy stem irrigation activity.

Ancient Mesopotamia STEM Irrigation Activity

With this project, kids learn how this ancient civilization invented a system to grow crops. The most extraordinary thing about this is that we still use this system today! Irrigation has been the main contributor in the development of agriculture.

If you are studying about erosion in science, this could also double as a great STEM project for science as well.
About the Mesopotamians

Mesopotamia was a region situated along the Tigris-Euphrates River system located in Western Asia. It’s where Kuwait, Iraq, sections of Saudi Arabia, the eastern sections of Syria, Southwestern Turkey, and parts of Turkish-Syrian and Iran-Iraq borders are today. The name Mesopotamia means “between rivers.” It’s said this was the center of culture and where the influence of agriculture began.

Agriculture changed the game for ancient people. Instead of hunting and gathering, tribes of people were beginning to settle down and form civilizations. The Mesopotamians were the first to develop a written language and invented the wheel. They also built ships to travel the Persian Gulf in order to trade with other civilizations.

In the center of their cities they constructed temples of the many gods they worshiped. The anatomy of these structures would have involved thousands of workers and would have taken many years to construct.

Mesopotamia’s Engineering

In Southern Mesopotamia, the Sumerians built city walls and canals to prevent flooding. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers carried monstrous amounts of silt, resulting in fast rising rivers.

The irrigation system was of a basin type. They would dig a hole in the embankment and then use mud to close it back up. Water was then lifted up using a swape, which is a pole acting as a lever. Some of these canals may have been used for 1,000 years before they were left and others rebuilt. Today, 3,000-4,000 years later, remains of the canals are still present.

To build your own Mesopotamia irrigation system you will need the following items:

• a big baking pan
• sand
• cotton squares
• water
• pieces of wood/popsicle sticks
• soil
• green construction paper/green food coloring
• sticks and leaves
• monopoly houses
• hot glue

You may also want to cover your table or do this outside. Have a trash can nearby, as this project tends to get messy.

I was able to find many of these supplies around the house. The only thing I had to buy was a big bag of sand from Home Depot. This is what makes this STEM project really affordable.Start by filling up one side of the baking pan with cotton squares. This will help prevent your sand from eroding when you fill up the river with water. The other side will be the river. Play around with the sand until it begins to look like a beach. After you get the look you want, begin sectioning off where you want to place the fields of crops. This is where you’ll need the soil. You can also plan out little sections to build homes or temples to represent the cities.

Also, you’ll love these super hands-on history resources from Home School in the Woods.

Using green construction paper, or leaves, place your crops in the fields. You can dye some of your sand green to represent fields. Use the sticks and leaves to look like trees. We used the hot glue gun to glue the leaves onto the sticks.Now it’s time to build your canals. Begin digging trenches in between the fields with a ditch leading out towards your river. (You’ll fill in the river in just a bit!)Now that your canals have been dug, you will need a gate to control how much water will be needed for your crops. You can use popsicle sticks, pieces of wood, or sticks to build a gate to fit between the edges of your canal. The gate will need to be able to open and close, and it will need to be water proof. We hot glued pieces of popsicle sticks together.Once your gate is built, install it into your canal. Pour water into your river with the gate shut. If the water leaks keep modifying your gate. The river should not be released into the canals until the gate opens.

Hands-on History for Kids

Search online for pictures of irrigation systems of Mesopotamia if you are stuck. I found an image to show my kids before I let them go. They always surprise me with ways to build things that I never would have thought to do.

These ancient people were truly remarkable. I love being able to build small replicas of engineering systems so the kids can understand how they work. Not only does it improve their comprehension of what is being read, it also improves their critical thinking as they try to build what they read!

If you are looking for more STEM activities to add to your day, check out this post!

You’ll love these other activities:

Hands-on Ancient Egypt: Israelite Mud Bricks for Kids

November 13, 2018 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Mud Bricks for Kids

While stone building was reserved for monuments and other places the ancient Egyptians wanted to be sure would lasted forever, basic buildings like homes, tombs, palaces, or even just protective walls in Ancient Egypt were constructed of brick. Prior to brick making, soil was used but was not very sturdy.

Ancient Egypt- Israelites Mud Bricks

Back in Ancient Egypt they couldn’t just make a run to the brickyard to pick up a pallet or ten in their trucks. Brick making was very hard, labor intensive work. So they used Israelite slaves to first gather the materials, make the bricks, and then use them to build with. They needed to use resources they had on hand to create sturdy bricks for building walls.

The first thing the Israelites had to do was gather sand, clay, and silt from the Nile. The soil from the Nile River when dried became a black hard stone like substance, making for sturdy bricks. Since we are not able to take a trip to the Nile River to gather our supplies, we are going to improvise and use materials that we can easily get our hands on.

You are going to need: topsoil, straw, water, and clay if you can easily get some. Oh, and something to use as a mold. You can make mini bricks with an ice cube tray if you would actually like to construct a model of something using your bricks. Or if you want to see a full sized brick you can make molds with wood, as the Israelite slaves did, or use something like a small square or rectangle pans. We used a silicone soap mold we had from another project for ours.

If your straw is larger you will want to chop it into small bits. Straw was used as a binder to help make the bricks even sturdier. This is called Straw Chaff. I found these little straw bundles at the craft store but you can also find hay or straw at a feed store, or ask a friend with livestock for a a few handfuls. Sometimes, they even used animal droppings to construct their bricks (we are gonna skip that part with our brick making).

Next, the Israelites had to work the mud and straw together. They did this by trampling it with their feet to mix it up consistently. Place your soil, straw and water in a large tub and try to mix it together the same way they did. Add just enough water so that your soil will hold together. This will help your bricks dry faster. The average size of bricks in Ancient Egypt was 8.7 x 4.3 x 5.5, if larger bricks were needed for building they were about 15.0 x 7.1 x5.5. You can make your bricks any size you like.Remove the mud mixture from the tub and place it in your molds, press firmly into the mold to remove air bubbles. Then, let it sit in the full sun for 1 day or until it is mostly dry. At this point they would remove it from the mold and let it finish drying in the sun out of the mold. Do the same with yours. Israelites left theirs to dry in the sun for 25 days. If you make smaller bricks they will obviously dry much faster. Later on in history the bricks would be baked in a kiln to hasten drying time.Once your brick is completely dry it is ready to be used for construction! Think you could make 1000 to 2000 bricks a day? That is what the ancient Israelite slaves were required to do.

You’ll also love this huge Ancient Egypt lapbook and unit study from Home School in the Woods – one of my favorite hands-on history providers.

It would take an average of 5 days of brick making in order to have enough bricks to construct a small one story home for the worker.

Here are a few more interesting facts about mud bricks and the ancient Israelites…

Houses were built using mud bricks and then were whitewashed to help deflect the brutal sun’s rays and keep the inside of the home more comfortable. Windows were placed high rather than lower like in modern homes to keep sand out and covered with reed mats. The roofs were flat.
While these bricks were sturdy, they were not able to stand the test of time and that is why most of the remaining ancient Egyptian buildings that we have been able to study were made from stone rather than these mud bricks which eventually wore away.
Mud bricks were often stamped with the cartouches of the reigning pharaoh. While many were lost, we have been able to recover some bricks that still bear the stamp.
Israelite slave children as young as 4 were used to help make mud bricks.
While smaller bricks were more common they have discovered mud bricks that were as large as 1 meter in length.

You’ll love these other hands-on ideas for studying about Ancient Egypt:

Ancient Japan for Kids: Fun and Simple Handwriting Activity

October 26, 2018 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Ancient Japan for Kids

We have studied the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans and Ancient Egyptians off and on for more than four years. My children are natural historians, and love to imagine themselves as mini-Indiana Jones type archaeologists.

As I planned our studies for this school year, I wanted to incorporate this natural and significant interest into our approach. Then, my oldest expressed an interest in learning Japanese to meet his foreign language requirement and the answer became clear. I began to pull together ideas and resources to study ancient Japan.

Japanese Ancient History

I am almost ashamed to admit how little I learned in school about this amazing country, much less its history. (I always say that I am learning as much as my boys are in this homeschooling journey!)

The vast timeline of Japanese Ancient History continues up until 538 AD. For thousands of years, Japanese culture experienced its own iron age and classical expression. During this period, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han in the first century AD. Then, between the fourth century and the ninth century, Japan’s numerous kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government, controlled by the Emperor.

The pottery of this same time period and the historical record itself details the evolution of the Japanese language and the development of not one, not two, but THREE different Japanese alphabets.

It was actually the Chinese practice of character writing that had a huge effect on the development of the written language of ancient Japan. Chinese characters became the Kanji symbolic alphabet in Japanese. ( Incidentally, written Chinese is one of the world’s oldest active, still in use, writing systems. Many current Chinese characters have been traced back to the Shang dynasty about 1200–1050 BC, but the process of creating characters is thought to have begun some centuries earlier.)

Kanjiwas first introduced to ancient Japan in the first half of the first millennium AD. At the time, Japanese had no universal writing system, so Kanji were used to represent Japanese words with the corresponding meanings.

Later years would bring the Japanese phonetic alphabets, Hiragana and Katakana. (Yes, you read that correctly. The pottery of the time period and the historical record itself details the evolution of the Japanese language and the development of not one, not two, but THREE different Japanese alphabets.)

Hands-On Learning: Ancient Japan

In my almost nine years of homeschooling, one thing that I have learned is essential for our learning to be retained and, if I am honest, enjoyed, is that hands-on activities make all the difference for my two growing boys.

Because I wanted to bring the rich history of Japan alive for my boys, I knew I needed to include a hands-on activity in our study. Because the three alphabets factoid stunned us all, I decided to challenged them to replicate Japanese Character Writing or Kanjii.

What You Will Need For This Activity:

Free Japanese Symbolic Writing Printable
Brush Pens (if available – it not, any thick marker will do)
Cardstock

Ancient Japan: Hands-On Learning Activity

After learning that the name of the Japanese symbolic alphabet is the Kanjii Alphabet and that it naturally flowed from the Chinese alphabet, we got to work.

Step One: Print out printable (available for free with this post) and use as reference.

Step Two: Take the brush pens and practice brush strokes first. (This was an important step as none of us were accustomed to using this type of pen!)

Step Three: When comfortable with the brush pen, try your hand at a Kanji character.

Step Four: Once everyone is comfortable with creating the characters, ask your child to choose the top 3 symbols that are meaningful for his life and interests.Step Five: Using the card stock, draw the three selected symbols.Step Six: Label the characters in English.Step Seven: Because this alphabet also looks like beautiful art, hang on the fridge or even frame your child’s historic creation!I have to say, this is more difficult than it looks! Brush pens are obviously much different than the pens we use everyday and the slant of many of the symbols can be difficult to replicate.

In fact, if you are completing this activity with a young child, or one that struggles with fine motor skills, I highly recommend encouraging them to choose symbols that are less intricate to begin with. (For example: the symbol for dog is blissfully simple for the younger learner.)

Overall, expanding our ancient history study to include Japan has been a great success. Not only have we moved into an area of the world that we are all less familiar with, but we have also found the differences in Japanese art, culture and yes, alphabets, to be fascinating.

If nothing else, you can remind your child when she is complaining about handwriting practice that in Japan, children learn three alphabets as opposed to our one!You’ll also love these other resources: