I am Pharaoh [Craft & Writing Prompt]

Warning: If your child tends to be bossy, it might be best to avoid this activity. My son thoroughly enjoyed being “Ruler of Egypt” ... perhaps a little bit too much!

Before my son got crafty, we read up on Ancient Egypt. Both of these books contain amazing graphics and illustrate the Egyptian jewelry, headdresses, and clothes beautifully.

Now watch how we transformed one large sheet of gold posterboard, double-sided sticky tape, and construction paper strips into pharaoh accessories!

First my son made an Egyptian Pharaoh’s headdress, using instructions on the Activity Village website. I used their pattern as a guide, folding a sheet of newspaper in half so the pattern would be symmetrical. Then my son cut it out and we stapled it to a strip of the paper (this became the headband).

Next, he used double-sided sticky tape to glue on blue strips of paper. Voila! He looked just like the Great Sphinx of Giza (well, from the neck up anyway!).

Then we used the rest of the posterboard to make a gold collar with directions from Show Me. We traced a plate for our circle shape and then positioned another circular bowl inside it closer to the edge and traced it too. By cutting a slit in the back, it was easy for my son to cut out the interior circle and to slip it on and off.

Since my pantry only had bowtie pasta (a decidedly un-Egyptian shape), my son glued on more strips of paper to emulate precious jewels.

Once completed, he put them on and promptly told me he was Pharaoh and I was a royal guard. I gave him a blank sheet of writing paper and told him that as Pharaoh, he needed to record his rules.

Download a PDF of this writing paper here.

His rules follow. (Um … I'm not sure how I feel about that first one …)
Mom has to clean the dishes.
Everyone hugs Dad.
Live in the pyramids.
No school!
All wear chapstick.

While my son would rather do just about anything other than write, giving him this opportunity was just the motivation he needed. No whining, just writing. (Oh, how that makes me happy!)