Wonder at the Treasures of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt at Brighton Museum grabs the imagination of child and adult alike, through hands-on learning and visual displays.
- listen to the ancient chanting of names
- spell your name in hieroglyphs
- compare the lives of ancient Egyptians with modern Sudanese people living by the Nile
- see a burial and the possessions needed for the afterlife
Explore the hidden treasures of the museum’s outstanding Egyptian collection on display in two new galleries.
Brighton Museum has the largest ancient Egypt collection in southern England, with many important, fascinating and rare objects. The galleries have a strong child focus with interactives and interpretation designed to engage minds, arouse curiosity and develop the historical skills outlined in the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum.
Life and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt Learning Session
What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the afterlife? Who got to be mummified and why? Use costume and props to explore the mummification process.
Discover Ancient Egypt at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery Key Stage 2 Teacher Resource
The resource aims to support learning about ancient Egypt both in the classroom and at the museum with our amazing collections. It contains worksheets that you can photocopy and use in the galleries, and includes classroom materials that are supported by Smartboard files that can be downloaded on this page.
Discover Ancient Egypt at Brighton Museum [PDF 4MB]
Discovering Ancient Egypt - Classroom activities
These smartboard files contain high resolution images of objects on display at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s. They form the basis of classroom-based activities that relate to the themes covered in the Discovering Ancient Egypt resource.
The activities can form part of pre-visit lessons, helping to familiarise pupils with some of the ideas and key objects explored in the galleries. Alternatively, they can be used as post-visit activities, building upon and extending pupils’ knowledge of ancient Egypt. A description of each classroom activity can be found at the back of the Discovering Ancient Egypt resource.
Excavating Ancient Egypt
Exploring a tomb card can introduce pupils to some of the ways that archaeologists record information about objects and sites, and help them to develop their own skills of observation, and recording.
Excavating Ancient Egypt [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 18MB]
Pots: an Egyptologist’s best friend?
Looking closely at examples of ancient Egyptian pottery enables pupils to develop their skills of observation and deduction, and to engage with a key archaeological source for ancient Egypt.
Potty about Pots [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 6MB]
Environment: animal, mineral or vegetable?
Exploring clues about the environment can help pupils understand how the natural resources available to the ancient Egyptians helped them develop their way of life.
Environment: animal, mineral or vegetable? [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 19MB]
Egypt and the wider world
Investigating trade maps and tomb paintings can reveal ancient Egypt’s links with other counties and can help pupils place it in a wider geographical and historical context.
Egypt and the wider world [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 7MB]
Symbols of Power
This activity is designed to help pupils interpret symbols of power using primary evidence.
Symbols of Power [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 1MB]
Power structures of ancient Egypt
Using the stela to learn about power structures in ancient Egypt can help to develop pupils’ historical enquiry and deductive skills.
Power structures of ancient Egypt [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 1MB]
In the home
This activity encourages pupils to make connections between their own lives and those of the ancient Egyptians by using their own experiences to make deductions about life in the past.
In the home [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 5MB]
Who’s who of ancient Egyptian gods
This activity will help pupils understand the range and role of different gods and goddesses in ancient Egypt and how people might have prayed to different gods depending on their circumstances.
Who's who of ancient Egyptian gods [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 18MB]
Food
Using a tomb painting to explore what food was like in ancient Egypt is another way of finding out about the past from what has survived.
Food [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 2MB]
Ancient Egyptian fashion
Using tomb paintings as inspiration for their own fashion designs provides pupils with an opportunity to creatively engage with some of the key characteristics of ancient Egyptian life.
Ancient Egyptian fashion [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 2MB]
Journey to the afterlife
Investigating the meaning of ancient Egyptian texts enables pupils to find out more about the characteristic attitudes and beliefs of this period.
Journey to the afterlife [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 3MB]
Life in the afterlife
Investigating the appearance and purpose of shabtis is one way of helping pupils engage with some of the key ideas that informed ancient Egyptian’s beliefs about the afterlife.
Life in the afterlife [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 8MB]
Reconstructed burial
Activities based on the reconstructed burial allow pupils to become ‘real’ archaeologists, who interpret the past by exploring the objects that have survived.
Reconstructed burial [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 20MB]
Canopic jars
Using the canopic jars as evidence can be an inspiring starting point from which to explore some of the religious and scientific beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.
Canopic jars [SMART Board™ Software 9.7 14MB]
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