ABOUT THE GLADIATORS IN ANCIENT ROME The Ancient Romans built the Colosseum in order to provide a place for entertainment for the citizens of Rome. Sadly, their favorite entertainment was gladiator fights, which involved slaves, trained to be gladiators, who were forced to fight each other, often to death. If a gladiator won enough fights, he might win his freedom, though very few gladiators ever did. They were all sufficiently appalled by this and they seemed very surprised that people would think of selling other people. Aah the wisdom of children. ❤️ We spent a long time today working on sketching the human form and getting the proportions of the body just right. Tomorrow they’ll clean up their drawings and finish them off with paint and add the Colosseum in the background.
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The campers loved creating a portrait of an ancient Olympian. Winners of events in the ancient Olympics did not receive a medal, but instead got a special crown made of olive leaves from a sacred olive tree near Zeus’ temple in Olympia. ABOUT THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS The Ancient Greeks were the creators of the first Olympics. The modern Olympics that you watch on TV every two years are a result of what the Ancient Greeks started in 776 B.C., though the games looked very different 2800 years ago. In the ancient Olympics, only men could compete in the competitions. Women were not even allowed to watch, though maybe that was okay because most Olympic athletes competed without clothes! Ancient Olympic Facts: •The first Olympics were held in the town of Olympia, Greece. •The Olympics honored the god Zeus. •During the Olympics, the Greek people stopped all war and fighting so that everyone could compete at the games in peace. ABOUT THE SPARTANS Ancient Greece was made up of a collection of small states which often did not get along. Sparta was one of these states and was located in southern Greece. The Spartans were known for their strong army. Spartan soldiers trained from the age of 7 and served in the army until they were 59. I asked if they could imagine joining the army when they turn 7? 😳 Of course not! We used a plate as the base for our shield and it was painted in several layers. They even rubbed a layer of brown paint on it to create that dull metal look. ABOUT THE LOTUS FLOWER The lotus flower is a flower that the ancient Egyptians came to respect and value in their culture. It had positive associations such as protection, healing and, most importantly, creation and rebirth. Lotus flowers are depicted in ancient Egyptian art near the noses of pharaohs. Pharaohs would take in their special scent, which they believed would lead to protection or restoration. They used loads of terrific art techniques here as well, from oil pastel resist to salt crystallization in the watercolours! How cute is this painted paper crocodile? Something I love about cutting and gluing projects with kids is that their crocodiles will each be terrifically unique and have so much personality. Some will have huge mouths and tiny feet. Others will have snaggleteeth and fearsome eyes. Whatever the fun result, this is a great line and texture lesson for your kids and one that also gives them lots of opportunity to practice cutting. To tie this lesson into learning about ancient Egyptian art, we read Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie de Paola and talked about all the ancient Egyptian art the characters found along the Nile river. ABOUT NILE CROCODILES Nile crocodiles live all over Africa and are named after one of their homes in the long Nile river that runs through Egypt. They can grow as long as 20 feet and weigh up to 1,650 pounds! Their ears, eyes and nostrils are on the top of their head so that they can see, hear and smell while they are swimming in the water. They started their crocodile pieces and they’ll finish them off tomorrow! ABOUT EGYPTIAN HIPPO SCULPTURES With the Nile River running through their land, ancient Egyptians were familiar with hippopotami. Their art included small sculptures of hippopotami. The most famous is this statuette of a hippopotamus (popularly called "William") was found in a tomb and is now housed at the MET Museum. It was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz. Beneath the blue glaze, the body was painted with lotuses. These river plants depict the marshes in which the animal lived, but at the same time their flowers also symbolize regeneration and rebirth as they close every night and open again in the morning. The seemingly benign appearance that this figurine presents is deceptive. To the ancient Egyptians, the hippopotamus was one of the most dangerous animals in their world. The huge creatures were a hazard for small fishing boats and other rivercraft. The beast might also be encountered on the waterways in the journey to the afterlife. As such, the hippopotamus was a force of nature that needed to be propitiated and controlled, both in this life and the next. Only one of the legs in the statue is original, the other three are modern day restorations and it is believed that they were broken on purpose to protect the tomb’s owner in the afterlife. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pics of our clay molding but I’ll definitely get them painting and decorating them in our next session. The Little Hippo by Geraldine Elschner is the come-to-life story of an ancient Egyptian hippo sculpture. The book pairs perfectly with this drawing and printmaking lesson that features the cutest little blue hippo wading among the papyrus plants along the banks of the Nile river. ABOUT EGYPTIAN HIPPO SCULPTURES With the Nile River running through their land, Ancient Egyptians were familiar with hippopotami. Their art included small sculptures of hippopotami. Today, the most famous of these sculptures are the blue ceramic hippopotami that are decorated with nile river plants such as lotus flowers. In ancient Egyptian art, boats are common because they were such an important part of daily life. Often, they are depicted with flat water flowing just under the boat that is filled with a line of fish. This project captures the essence of Egyptian boat art through line and balance, and even includes making a stamp for the printed fish. ABOUT EGYPTIAN BOATS Today, there are many types of transportation on the road: cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, etc. In ancient Egypt, the Nile River was the ancient Egyptians’ highway, and there were many types of boats traveling up and down the river. There were fishing boats, cargo ships, funeral boats, war boats and even fancy golden boats used by the Pharaoh. |
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