Learn about Ancient Mesopotamia with thisGilgamesh for Kidsin this hands on history lesson for kids.
They meet in battle with neither able to defeat the other, until at last they become friends.
The pictures and words of this first book are delightful and I have used them to guide our learning.
Mix three heaped cups of flour with half teaspoon of salt and a cup of water.
Knead well and divide into small, flat patties.
Allow to cool, before cutting them into strips to dunk in the humus.
My girls and I touched on:
I chose copy work passages from the book which introduced interesting words.
Three additional statues may be seen on the last double page of the same book.
These are statues of a lamassu, which was a protective spirit in ancient Mesopotamia mythology.
A statue of a lamassu guarded the throne room in the palace at Nimrud.
The original statue can be found on page 7 of the Eyewitness Mesopotamia book.
My girls worked on their statues for ages.
Keep them safe as they will be needed to illustrate just how useful the invention of the wheel was.
The wheel was first used in ancient Mesopotamia, but not for travelling.
It would be used solely as a potters wheel for years before it became a wheel for transportation.
This was a gradual process, which handily pages 3 and 4 ofGilgamesh the Kingdemonstrates.
I asked the girls to point out any wheel like structures they could see.
This was the very first effort at making a wheel.
Cover the lid with brown paper and make wheels from the clay, leaving overnight to dry.
Rest the axles in the wedges and place the wheels on the axles, as shown above.
As an extension activity, you could ask your children to make their own model of any of these.
For more information and to see a couple of models we built a few years ago seehereandhere.
