This week’s theme:
Mysterious Places – Ancient Greece
This week’s colouring in sheet:
Download and print this week’s colouring sheet here.
Fact of the day:
The first Ancient Greek civilisations were formed nearly 4,000 years ago
Resources list:
Sheet or tablecloth, belt or sting; Youtube; dried rice or peas in a Tupperware box; paper and pens, wax crayon, paint, skewer.
Activity 1:
Can you locate Greece on a map of Europe and a map of the World? Click on this map to zoom in to see the country much closer.
Activity 2:
Most Ancient Greeks wore a chiton, which was a long T-shirt made from one large piece of cotton. Slaves, however, had to make do with a loincloth (a small strip of cloth wrapped around the waist). From a sheet/tablecloth, (or an over-sized tshirt) and a belt or string, make yourself a long chiton.
Activity 3:
Ancient Greek people started most celebrations with a dance, which also had call and response singing. Try singing along to this call and response song.
Ancient Greeks believed that dance was a way to express joy, and that moving our bodies is a natural desire. Harvesting was a time for dance and the traditional harvest dance involved harvesters striding along, four abreast, singing and lifting their knees high with every step. They carried long objects over their shoulders that have been identified as tools used to separate grain. The lead harvester is a man who shakes a sistrum, (a kind of rattle) and appears to be singing heartily. Try making a shaker of rice or dried peas in a plastic tub, and sing along to your favourite song shaking it and lifting your knees high with every step.
Activity 4:
The Greek alphabet is quite different to the English alphabet. Try writing your name using the red Greek letters here to match the orange English letters. You’ll find that not all English letters have a Greek equivalent.
Can you convert these words from Greek to English?
Activity 5:
Statues of Greek gods and goddesses were placed inside temples such as the Parthenon, a temple in Athens that was built for the goddess Athena.
Have a game of musical statues, when this music pauses, freeze in a pose like an ancient Greek statue of Athena.
Activity 6:
The ancient Greeks created story vases by decorating them with pictures of their gods, heroes and monsters. Using a print out of this template create a story vase of your own using characters from your life and things that you’ve been doing recently.
In ancient Greece, red and black pottery was very fashionable, so you could colour your urn with red wax crayon, and paint over the top with black paint. Then, (using a bamboo skewer/lolly stick/chopstick/empty ball point pen) scratch your story design onto the urn, revealing the red colour.