Ancient Mythology: Egypt
updated January 11, 2022
Recorded here is my own personal collection of articles, resources, favorite links, teaching ideas, and lesson plans. It encompasses many years, from the very beginning of my experience studying and learning about Waldorf to the present time. People from all around the world visit my site and recommend it to others. Welcome!
This site records my journey. I hope my honesty is encouraging and helps break down some barriers that may prevent people from trying Waldorf methods. Because this is an ongoing site documenting my curriculum planning and ideas, some materials are more Waldorf-y than others. Please feel free to take what you like and leave the rest.
This page has helpful links and LOADS of free resources to help you plan your fifth grade year. Enjoy!
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Ancient Mythology: Egypt
for Class 5
Pinterest - Renee Schwartz
My curated collection of visuals! Browse sample main lesson book pages, watercolor paintings, chalkboard drawings, etc. for
Ancient Egypt.
*NEW* Ancient Egypt Booklist blog post
FREE eBooks at the Online Waldorf Library
Excellent resource! Published Waldorf curriculum books provided here in PDF format for you to download, keep, and read... for free!
Other Helpful Links
Books to Buy
I know that there is one token myth for Egypt at the end of Charles Kovacs's Ancient Mythologies book
("Isis and Osiris") and
I always resented that fact. As a child I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt, teaching myself to read hieroglyphs, writing messages
on scrolls of calculator tape
that only I could read, absorbing every single thing I could get my hands on to read about Egypt (both
fiction and non-fiction)... and fully intending to become
an archaeologist when I grew up.
I'm certainly not the only child, or person, to become entranced by this wonderful civilization.
Now I have decided to devote an entire main lesson to the Egyptian myths and pharaohs. This topic is actually the perfect transition
in fifth grade from mythology to true history!
The best book for the job is Gods & Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology,
from the fabulous World Mythology Series. This book is out of print now and you can find copies of it very inexpensively.
There are 26 stories in all plus some end notes about hieroglyphic writing, plenty
for two blocks. If you prefer to focus
on mythology and not transition your child completely into history just yet, I would suggest doing a
three week block using just the first nine chapters.
NEW: There is a brand-new book out
called Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Mythology for Kids by Morgan E. Moroney, and it is excellent!
I'm really looking forward to using this book the next time I teach this block, since it covers many myths that were new to me!
 
 
Table of Contents from Gods & Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology
Story #1 - Red land, black land
Story #2 - The waters of chaos
Story #3 - The nine gods
Story #4 - The secret name of Ra
Story #5 - The Eye of the Sun
Story #6 - The anger of Ra
Story #7 - The murder of Osiris
Story #8 - The conflict of Horus and Seth
Story #9 - The journey of the soul
[end of mythology; transition into history]
Story #10 - The seven-year famine
Story #11 - King Khufu and the magicians
Story #12 - The eloquent peasant
Story #13 - The shipwrecked sailor
Story #14 - The prince and the sphinx
Story #15 - The capture of Joppa
Story #16 - The doomed prince
Story $17 - The two brothers
Story #18 - The blinding of Truth
Story #19 - The Sun Pharaoh
Story #20 - The Princess of Bakhtan
Story #21 - The Book of Thoth
Story #22 - The young magician
Story #23 - The sealed letter
Story #24 - The clever thief
Story #25 - The voyage of Wenamon
Story #26 - Egypt in decline
Story #27 - Writing in ancient Egypt
Story #28 - Symbols in the Egyptian myths
Additional Resources:
Main Lesson Block Notes from Gods & Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology
I decided to focus on the mythology but weave some factual information and activities in. I also chose
to present the background information using Edna McGuire's book because
it is written in a much more child-friendly way than chapter #1 (Red land, black land) of the Mythology book.
WEEK ONE
Day One
make oil pastel/watercolor resist map of Egypt and the Nile River, based on page 10 of Gods & Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology
sample chalkboard drawing
begin to read "Egypt, the Gift of a River" from The Past Lives Again
A Glimpse of the Nile Valley (pp.33-45)
Egypt and the Nile, The gift of water, The gift of soil, The rising of the waters, Work and play as the waters rise,
The overflow, Sowing the seed, Stirring the soil, Harvesting the crop, Celebrating the harvest feast
build a full-size or a model shaduf using these instructions from History For Kids
(a shaduf is shown on page 35 of The Past Lives Again)
Day Two
continue with "Egypt, the Gift of a River" from The Past Lives Again
The People and Their Government (pp.45-50)
Egypt in the Stone Age, The coming of new people, The classes of the people, The plan of the government, The work of the king, The laws
New Knowledge and New Ways (pp.50-55)
Making bronze, Working in gold, Making glass, Building tombs and temples, Carving stone, Writing books, Measuring the land, Making the calendar,
Curing by medicine or magic, The effect of new knowledge
look at Egyptian calendar in The Story of Clocks and Calendars (pp.15-16)
this is a good day for reading Nile Crossing
Fun with Hieroglyphs Stamp Set
I dragged out my old box full of rolls of unused fax paper... these make perfect scrolls!
papyrus kit
sample Hieroglyphs chalkboard drawing
"Counting Like an Egyptian" activity in Math and Science Across Cultures
(pp.48-59)
sample Egyptian Math chalkboard drawing
Day Three
continue with "Egypt, the Gift of a River" from The Past Lives Again
Religious Beliefs (pp.55-59)
The gods, The beliefs about death
Homes and Home Life (pp.59-70)
Peeps at Egyptian houses, Visiting a swineherd, Visiting a poulterer, Visiting a farmer, Visiting an army officer, Attending a party, The
end of the journey
At the conclusion of the chapter (pp.71-76) she provides a word game, a map study exercise, several tests, additional suggested activities,
and a booklist.
sample watercolor painting of pyramids
(Becca was inspired by this painting and did a similar scene, but with our favorite new art material:
gelatos)
 
look at Pyramid
sample chalkboard drawing of pyramid and Sphinx
sample chalkboard drawing inside a pyramid
sample chalkboard drawing of canopic jars
play Passing Through the Netherworld board game
KING CLUCK, 2012:
make a chicken mummy using a Cornish game hen
this will require rubbing alcohol, three extra large ziploc bags, many boxes of kosher salt, rubber gloves, and a 9 x 13 baking dish for it to sit in while it dessicates
CLUCKOPATRA, 2018:
this year, my second time making a mummy, we used a whole chicken and
it would not fit in a gallon ziploc bag once we added the salt, so we stored it in a jumbo-sized tin from
a gift of fancy Christmas popcorn (see photos here)
Jan 15 - remove giblet bag, soak chicken overnight in a gallon ziploc bag filled with a whole bottle of rubbing alcohol
Jan 16 - discard rubbing alcohol, place chicken in tin on a bed of salt and cover with kosher salt, fill body cavity with salt as well - 2 1/2 boxes (7.5 lbs)
Jan 18 - discard old salt and put in new salt - 1 1/2 boxes (4.5 lbs)
Jan 22 - discard old salt and put in new salt - 2 boxes (6 lbs)
Jan 25 - discard old salt and put in new salt - 2 boxes (6 lbs)
Feb 1 - discard old salt and put in new salt - 2 boxes (6 lbs)
Feb 8 - discard old salt and put in new salt - 2 boxes (6 lbs)
Feb 15 - discard old salt and wrap mummy in clean strips from a white cotton sheet, wrapping each leg and wing individually before
wrapping the strips around the entire body, add spices and clay amulets and charms during the wrapping, place the mummy in a cardboard
pyramid-shaped tomb along with a scroll in hieroglyphs wishing it well on its journey into the afterlife
(tear an entire twin size flat
sheet into strips for the wrapping... it takes more than you think)
A KEY TIP:
Since you don't get to touch the mummy while it soaks in the salt, and play with it, and see what the salt is doing and how it is working, I have us "mummify cucumber slices" first. Simply slice up a cucumber and put it on a cutting board. Sprinkle with salt. Then the kids can mess with them as much as they want. The salt will soak up the liquid in the cucumber and get wet. Then change the salt. This helps your students to see the process first hand before you do it with a chicken.
Day Four
WEEK TWO
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
WEEK THREE
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
*NEW*
Table of Contents from Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Mythology for Kids by Morgan E. Moroney
Ra - The Sun God
Shu and Tefnut - God of Air and Goddess of Moisture
Geb and Nut - God of Earth and Goddess of the Sky
Neith - Goddess of Creation and War
Osiris - God of the Underworld
Isis - Goddess of Magic, Thrones, and Healing
Horus the Child and Horus the Elder - Child God of Healing and Falcon God of Kings
Seth - God of Deserts, Storms, War, and Chaos
Nephthys and the Four Sons of Horus - Goddess of the Dead and Guardians of the Dead
Anubis - God of Mummification
Serqet - Goddess of Scorpions
Hathor - Goddess of Love, Music, and Celebration
Sekhmet - Goddess of Power, War, and Plague
Bastet - Goddess of Cats, Joy, and Motherhood
Ptah - God of Craftsmen
Thoth - God of Knowledge, Writing, and Scribes
Seshat - Goddess of Scribes, Building, and Astronomy
Bes and Taweret - God and Goddess of Home, Childbirth, Women, and Children
Sobek - God of Crocodiles and the Waters
Khnum - God of Potters and the Flood
My Blog Posts from Teaching This Topic in 2018
using the teaching notes above
My Blog Posts from Teaching This Topic in 2019
using the two Egypt chapters from Stories of the Ancient Peoples by Henry Smith Chapman
My Blog Posts from Teaching This Topic in 2021
using Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Mythology for Kids by Morgan E. Moroney
we focused on the legends and I wove in extra information as it fit within the context of the story
- Week of April 5
Ra, Shu and Tefnut
extra information on the dung beetle for Ra
 
 
 
- Week of April 12
Geb and Nut, Neith, Osiris, Isis, Horus the Child and Horus the Elder
extra information on the dung beetle for Ra
 
extra information on the Egyptian seasons, lunar calendar, and first solar calendar for Nut
 
extra information on scribes for Thoth
 
- Week of April 19
Seth, Nephthys and the Four Sons of Horus, Anubis, Serqet
make watercolor resist map of Egypt for Seth
(use oil pastels for the desert and watercolor paint for the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and Nile River and Delta)
extra information on death and the afterlife for Nephthys and Anubis
 
 
 
extra information on mummification for the Four Sons of Horus
Canopic Jars Activity
- Week of April 26
fish mummification project Nefertrouti II
- Week of May 3
Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, Ptah, Thoth
extra information on Egyptian numerals and hieroglyphs for Thoth
for numerals, I used pages 13 and 14 from Math Investigations Book 3 by Susan Gardner and Silvia Acosta
Write Your Name in Egyptian Hieroglyphs activity from Royal Ontario Museum
Hieroglyph Key (PDF)
 
- Week of May 10
Seshat, Bes and Taweret, Sobek, Khnum
extra information on building for Seshat
 
 
Discover the Pythagorean Theorem! (FREE on TpT)
Colored Bead Bar Material and 3, 4, 5 squares from the Short Bead Chain Material
Pythagorean Theorem Worksheet (FREE on TpT)
Building an Ancient Egyptian Level blog post
How to Build a Shaduf: Ancient Egypt Projects
April Photos Part II
May Photos Part I
May Photos Part II
Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting of the Sphinx
*NEW* Ancient Egypt Booklist
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