Year 4 pupils at Stephenson Way Academy recently spent the day uncovering the hidden secrets of Ancient Egypt in a fun-filled workshop with experts from Durham University.
Throughout the course of the day, children immersed themselves in life as an Ancient Eygptian. They began by mummifying Lewis, who had to wear a ‘death mask’, so that his soul would be recognised in the afterlife. He said, “The mask was really big and quite heavy but it was fun to wear.” For the less squeamish members of the class, the mummification was the most exciting part of the day as three volunteers were chosen to pull out all of the mummy’s insides before it could be mummified. Jayden told us, “It was so gross but really cool too!”
Next, the group asked lots of questions about the mummy to decide whether he had lived a good life and deserved to go to the afterlife. Using images of the Gods they took it in turns to decide his fate, giving reasons for their decision. Thankfully for the mummy, it was decided he could go after all!
After looking at some Egyptian artefacts, the children got creative with clay by making Egyptian ambulants. Some children made scarab beetles, while others chose to sculpt shabti dolls and everyone took their creation home as a keepsake.
Both the children and Miss Taylor would like to thank Durham University for leading such an interesting and informative day of historical learning.
