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Home Hieroglyphics

Home Hieroglyphics

Students can impress friends and family with their knowledge of ancient languages when they design a cartouche that displays a hieroglyphic message.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper Clip(s)
  • String

Steps

  • Step 1

    Egyptian hieroglyphs, along with Sumerian cuneiform, are considered the earliest writing systems. Have students research the hieroglyphic language system. When did it evolve? What was it written on? How is it read? For example, a figure (person, bird, or animal) always faces the beginning of the sentence, so you know where to start reading. There are some symbols that function as single letters or phonetic sounds and some that represent whole words.

  • Step 2

    Ask students to think of a phrase they'd like to display on a door. The phrase on the art image says "keep out." If students choose to recreate this, perhaps they could learn how to write "welcome" on the reverse side. Then have them look up how to translate it into hieroglyphs.

  • Step 3

    Have students make their cartouche, a structure often in the shape of an oval or oblong used as an ornament or to display an design or message, out of a flattened ball Model Magic. They can press it into any shape and then use the pointed tip of an unfolded paper clip to etch the characters into the Model Magic. Have them add color with markers or paint, then embellish the entire shape with a light coat of gold paint.

  • Step 4

    Have students present their hieroglyphic cartouches to the class and explain the meaning of the symbols and where they would like to display it. Students can then display their art at home.

Standards

LA: Add drawings or other visual displays to written text to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

SS: Culture: Create, learn, share, and adapt to culture.

Adaptations

How did we learn how to translate ancient hieroglyphics? Have students research the Rosetta Stone, which was a stone slab discovered in Egypt in 1799 containing hieroglyphic, demotic, and ancient Greek writing.

Have students find out why the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs bore hieroglyphic writing. Was it a retelling of his life? A guide to follow in the afterlife? Something else?