Prep girls work like Egyptians

To support and enhance the girls’ learning about the era, the pupils enjoyed activities centred on everyday life by engaging in a series of role plays.

They used authentic tools and materials wherever possible to learn skills as apprentices in a wide variety of workshops including oil lamp workers, apprentice embalmers, scribes, tomb painters and canopic jar potters.

As the day progressed, the seven- and eight-year-olds worked in groups to create entertainment for the pharaoh and performed for him at a banquet. They thoroughly enjoyed tasting the food at the banquet, particularly the figs, dates, spiced ‘wine’ and sweetmeats. By the end of the day, they had gained an insight into how it felt like to be an ancient Egyptian.

Prep 3’s teacher, Anna Baker, says, “Interactive workshops such as these bring history to life for the children and feed into our curriculum teaching. By the end of this term, the girls will have a good understanding of the features of ancient Egyptian society and people’s day-to-day lives.

“From archaeological discoveries, they will be able to identify the different ways the past is represented and use sources of information to make simple observations, inferences and deductions.”

Report and pictures contributed by Farlington School.