Bring Ancient History to Life

Imagine shopping at the Forum in Ancient Greece, being entertained by gladiators in the Roman Coliseum or sailing along the Nile. These are exciting adventures for anyone, but especially for your middle schooler!

One way to help your child reach such distant lands is by creating a travel brochure and treasure map. He'll be flexing his creative muscles, as well as gaining a greater appreciation for these complex civilizations.

The Internet can be a great resource for both information and pictures, while simultaneously teaching your child researching skills.

For the travel brochure, let your child pretend she's on the Tourist Board for an ancient city and wants to lure travelers there.

• Start with the selection of an interesting ancient city, such as Babylon, Rome, Carthage, Athens, Alexandria, or Thebes.

• Topics in the brochure should include the city's government, economy, entertainment, food, fashion, religion, and history.

• Once each topic is throughly researched, your little PR guru should summarize the information and incorporate it into the brochure along with pictures.

• Finally, place all of the work together in a binder. Remember to include a cover, title page and table of contents

Another project to try with your young historian is to create a treasure map:

• Similar to the travel brochure, start by letting your child select an ancient city.

• Do some background reading on the location by visiting the library or searching the Internet.

• Let your child identify some key features to the area, such as bodies of water and famous buildings. Let him choose where among these landmarks he wants to bury their treasure.

• Take a sheet of 18x24 white construction paper and soak it in cool tea or coffee; then burn the edges to create a weathered look. (Parents will need to assist with this).

• Have your child design his map by incorporating the background information.

• Finally, on another sheet of paper have your child write clues to where his treasure is located. For example, behind the Coliseum or next to the Great Pyramid.

Don't leave history to the classroom - it can come alive anytime, anywhere, and give a great opportunity for creative play to boot. Let the power of the imagination bring these exotic locations, and their important histories, to life for your child.