Showing posts with label ancient mesopotamia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ancient mesopotamia. Show all posts

Monday, July 7, 2014

Mythical Creatures at the Morgan (in July)

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Mikro had another great program at the Morgan with our homeschool group. The kids learned about the history, geography and mythology of ancient Mesopotamia. Then they looked at the Morgan's collection of cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals. They chose a seal to draw, and talked about why someone might have chosen to use that symbology to represent themself.

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Later, they used a sample cylinder to roll out a seal on a piece of clay. They also had fun scanning the main Linrary room on a treasure hunt for other mythical creatures.


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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Learning About China and the Ancient Near East at the Met

What we did on:


Rode into the city and took Mikro to a workshop on cuneiform at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We were a couple of minutes late for the 3:00 workshop, so they recommended we wait for the 3:30. In the meantime, we did a scavenger hunt, looking for the animals listed on the worksheet in the Near East galleries. At 3:30, no one else had arrived, so Mikro got a private lesson and tour! Mikro's favorite part was learning about the intricately carved cylinders that were used as personal seals. He also learned to distinguish gods from kings in the wall reliefs by whether their crowns had horns (gods) or not (kings). Our educator was wonderful! Mikro was totally engaged and interested. We will definitely be doing more of these programs!











Afterwards, we saw the special exhibit on Kubilai Khan and the Art of China. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed... Mikro's favorite pieces there were a long scroll called "Benevolent Rains", which depicted the myth of the Four Dragons who saved the people from drought and became the spirits of China's four great rivers, a myth that Mikro loves, and a wooden statue of a Buddhist arhat (luohan).

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Homeschool Update

More books, mostly history related...








Science class was about meteors and comets. There was an experiment with flour (about meteor craters) that Mikro had to sit out, due to his wheat allergy. But Nitro John let him assist in a demo, so he was OK with it. They made a dry ice comet, and then made superball comets (with sparkly tails) to take home.



Reptile Boy enjoyed coloring these wooden lizards with wood markers (both from Oriental Trading Company).



And in honor of our Roman History studies, he made this dragon mosaic (with some help from me whe he got bored filling in all the blue sky pieces...)