Ancient Egyptian Jewelry: Scarab Necklace

A while back I picked up this neat Ancient Arts Jewelry (*affiliate link*) making kit at a used homeschool book sale.  It is a great kit that comes with instructions and all of the supplies you need to make jewelry from Egypt, Rome, Native America, India, and Africa.


Rachel pulled out the Ancient Egyptian craft and was excited to learn that she could make a scarab necklace!


She used tweezers to place little plastic beads in the metal scarab form.  It was a tedious and time-consuming process but she loved it.  She enjoys crafts and enjoys sorting and organizing things in just the right way so this was a perfect project for her.


I offered to help but she insisted that I take out the two beads I put in so that it would be entirely her project!


Next she put her scarab in the oven to melt the plastic beads.  How pretty!


She is very proud of her scarab necklace and has already worn it to the grocery store for all to see :)


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Layers of the Earth in Model Magic

The kids have been learning about the different layers inside the Earth. I found this cute activity on Pinterest in which they can make their own model of the Earth's layers!

I bought different colors of Crayola Model Magic clay.  Model Magic is easy to work with, comes in lots of great colors, and air dries.  We love it!

They started with making a little ball of clay to represent the Inner Core.  Then they covered that ball of clay with another color of clay to make a bigger ball.  This represents the Outer Core.  Then they wrapped the Outer Core with another layer of clay.  This is the Mantle.  Finally, the wrapped it all in brown clay for the crust of the Earth.


They decorated their Crust with continents and oceans.  

He's got the whole world in his hands.....


After a bit of play with turning the world upside down and throwing it to each other, they used some dental floss to cut a cross section of their Earth model.


It is so beautiful!


Rachel was just amazed and squealed when she saw her creation!


We love science but especially when I can find cool projects like this to bring it to life for them.