Salt Maps

       We had a great time mixing, creating, and painting the salt maps!   The girls helped mix and played with the dough.  I couldn't take many pictures of mixing and stirring due to keeping Aryee on task so that she didn't add more ingredients when I wasn't looking!  AND I don't even want to talk about the mess we had to clean up under her chair specifically.  Let's just say the vacuum is not enough to get dough out of rugs-- you have to hand pick it out!
        So we mixed and created on one day giving them time to dry.  Then it was time to paint!  Again the girls joined in to paint on their own papers.  I must admit they kept it on the paper and did a great job!

  


Quint's Map and Labels

               JD's Map and Labels







    The maps didn't have to be of Egypt.  They could have been of an imaginary land.  It's really a project to  introduce them to the vocabulary of maps.  So, they labeled their maps with their own words without talking to each other -- the Nile River seems to have made an impression because it showed up in both maps.   

Egyptian Paddle Dolls

This year we are using a core curriculum entitled Tapestry of Grace.  We started with God's 7 days of Creation and now we are off to Ancient Egypt in the books of Moses.  Can you imagine sleeping with a doll made of wood? 

      The girls worked on this project with us.  Reace loved painting the white dress and her favorite part was threading the beads!  She was a great help in getting Aryee's beads threaded as well.  [While she continued threading beads, I used her doll as an example of how to paint the necklace and head dress for the boys to see.]  Aryee loved painting too and enjoyed throwing the beads mostly or grabbing them by the handfuls and letting them slip through her fingers back into the bowl (or at least she attempted at holding her hand over the bowl : )!
      Quint did a great job of painting his.  Both of the boys got tired of threading the beads and kept asking "why are we doing this?"  But they persevered, and actually had fun making patterns with their beads.  I love JD's because he didn't want "crazy hair."  He liked his with no hair, and said, "I want him to have a headband and arms!"  All his idea! So much fun!