Welcome to Day 1 of Family Week! We hope you have a lot of fun doing these activities. We'd love to see what you make. Share photos of your creations with the hashtag #kelseyfamilyweek.
Activity Instructions
Ancient Storytelling: A Guide to the Stories of the Ancient World
The people of the ancient Mediterranean had many stories to tell, and they told them in many ways. Download this pamphlet to learn about some ancient stories you can find in the Kelsey galleries and the different ways people told their stories more than 2,000 years ago. There are even drawings you can print out and color.
Choose Your Own Adventure Story Cubes
All good stories have some essential bits of information. Characters, places, and objects make up the core of almost every story. In this activity, create your own stories using story cubes for inspiration.
- Download and print one copy each of the People, Places, and Objects story cubes. We recommend using cardstock if you have it.
- Follow the instructions for folding and securing the cubes.
- Roll each of the story cubes once.
- Create a story that takes place in the location on the Places cube, with the main character on the People cube, and includes the object on the Objects cube. Roll again and again for more story combinations!
Ancient Graffiti: Paper Temples and Pyramids
Pyramids are one of the most iconic symbols of ancient Egypt, but did you know that there are also pyramids in Kush, ancient Egypt’s southern neighbor? One difference between the Egyptian and Kushite pyramids was that the pyramids of Kush had much steeper sides.
Kelsey archaeologists have spent years excavating at the site of El-Kurru, Sudan, where several kings and queens of ancient Kush are buried. In addition to pyramids and an underground funerary temple, the archaeologists also found hundreds of remarkable ancient graffiti carved into the walls of the ancient monuments. They believe these graffiti were made by pilgrims who visited the site and wanted to leave mementos of their journey. The many drawings of boats, animals, sandals, and what look like textiles seem to say, “These are the things we saw on our travels to this place.” If you took a journey and wanted to tell people about it using pictures, what would you draw?
- Download and print a copy of the paper pyramid and temple. We recommend using cardstock if you have it.
- Tell a story by drawing graffiti on the walls of the pyramid and the columns and walls inside the temple.
- Follow the instructions to cut, fold, and secure the paper pyramid and temple.
