Learning About Egypt

We had so much fun and found so many cool things to learn about during our counties of the world study last year that we only ended up getting through about half of the countries that we had planned to. This year we're picked up where we left off and started with Egypt!

Basic Information

Egypt is a country in north eastern Africa. It's bordered by Libya, Sudan, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. Egypt is almost entirely desert, with a narrow fertile plain along the Nile River.

Population: 102 million

Size: 390,000 square miles

Capital: Cairo

Currency: the Egyptian pound

National Anthem: بلادي لك حبي وفؤادي

National Animal: stepped eagle

Flag:

Famous Places and Landmarks

The Giza Plateau- Located just outside of Cairo, the Giza Plateau is the site of the ancient pyramids of Khufu, the Sphinx, and the remains of an ancient industrial complex.

You can learn more about the Giza Plateau with this short video from FreeSchool: The Pyramids of Egypt and the Giza Plateau

The Nile River- The Nile river is one of the longest in the world flowing from lake Victoria in southern Uganda, north through South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt and then out to the Mediterranean Sea. It is an invaluable resource to the people of Egypt, providing them with food, transportation, and irrigation for crops.

The Nile River is also home to a wide array of wildlife including crocodiles, hippos, turtles, snakes, monitor lizards, and many types of birds and fish. You can learn more about some of the wildlife that inhabits the Nile River here: https://www.britannica.com/list/11-fascinating-nile-river-plants-and-animals

The Egyptian Museum- The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is the oldest archeological museum in the Middle East. It houses the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world.

The Red Sea Reef- The Red Sea, off the eastern coast of Egypt is home to one of the most beautiful reefs on the planet.

If your interested in learning more about the Red Sea Reef and the animals that live there, check out this documentary from Real Wild: Red Sea Reefs, the World Beneath the Waves

Recipes

We made Egyptian sweet cookies and hummus. The cookies were a huge hit. My 10 year old has made them several times now. Below is the links to the recipes we tried and links to a few other recipes that you may want to try.

Egyptian Sweet Cookies

Hummus

Koshari- A rice dish with tomato and crispy onions. It's Egypt's national dish.

Lentil Soup

Crafts and Activities

Nile Crocodile Craft

Watch this short video about Nile Crocodiles and then make a crocodile from a clothespin and some basic craft supplies!

Nile Crocodile Video from Nat Geo Wild

For this activity you will need:

-Clothes pins

-Green craft paint

-Small craft eyes

-Green pipe cleaners

-White paper

-School glue

-Scissors

Start by painting your clothespin green, then set it aside to dry.

Cut a small rectangle out of a piece of white paper about an inch by half an inch. Cut zigzags along the edge to make the crocodiles teeth.

Then open the snapping part of the clothespin and glue the crocodile teeth inside, on the bottom half. Fold the edges down around the bottom edge, and glue them into place.

Glue two small craft eyes just in front of the metal hinge.

Cut a skinny strip of green construction paper, about the width of the clothespin, and fold it accordion style, except the last inch. Cut the last inch to look like the crocodile's tail. Glue it to the crocodiles back, with the accordion folded end beginning just behind the crocodile's eyes, and the tail end hanging off the back end of your crocodile.

We also tried using piece of green pipe cleaner, folded accordion style, to make the scutes (the plates on a crocodiles back and tail). That works too.

Cut two pieces of green pipe cleaner about an inch and a half long. Glue one at the very back of the crocodile mouth, you should have a little over half an inch overhang on each side. Bend the overhang down to make the front legs. Thread the other pipe cleaner through the metal hinge, and bend to make the back legs.

Sugar Cube Pyramids

Watch a short video or two about the Egyptian Pyramids and then challenge your kids to try building a pyramid of their own!

The Inventor of the First Pyramid video from National Geographic

The Evolution of Ancient Egypt's Pyramids from National Geographic

All you need for this activity is a couple boxes of sugar cubes and a tray or cutting board to work on.

Build a step pyramid by arranging a square grid of sugar cubes. Set the sugar cubes side to side with no gaps in between. Then build another square grid layer on top with of the first. Make this layer a cube smaller in each direction. Repeat these steps, adding layers. The final layer should be a single sugar cube.