Ancient Egyptian cars: a fun and creative way to drive students into learning about ancient Egyptians.

A fun and creative way to drive students into learning about ancient Egyptians.

"If the ancient Egyptians had driven cars, what would the cars have looked like?" Sixth-grade art classes enthusiastically imagined a wide variety of such vehicles based on their study of ancient Egyptian art.

The first day the students learned how the Egyptians lived and how their beliefs influenced their art. Posters showing some of the many ancient gods and goddesses, many with animal heads, were on the bulletin board.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul, or ka, could enter the after-life only if the body was recognizable through mummification or reproduction in sculpture. The necessities and luxuries of life were buried with the dead to insure a happy afterlife. The sixth graders were intrigued that many cat and even mouse mummies were buried with the owners.

Students each had a sheet showing some of the hieroglyphs that represent sounds instead of whole words. They drew their names in hieroglyphs and heard about the Rosetta stone which made a translation possible.

On the second day students viewed slides of artifacts found in Tutankhamen's, or King Tut's, tomb discovered in 1922. They saw how the people in the hot, dry country wore simple clothes, yet liked jewelry and head dresses. They were able to recognize some of the hieroglyphs from writing their names. They learned that some heiroglyphs symbolized whole words, such as the hieroglyph for "life." Slides showed the pyramids, the Sphinx, and scenes of everyday life painted on tomb walls. Little toy-like sculptures found in tombs of fishermen and herdsmen enabled the dead to enjoy meat and fish in the afterlife. The final slide showed modern Egyptians working in an electronics factory, to show that Egyptians no ]anger live and believe as the ancient Egyptians did.

After the slides, students imagined how the ancient Egyptians might have designed a car. They sketched several ideas. Some used people or animals, or a combination such as a bird's face on a fish's body. Many included hieroglyphs. Some used Egyptian style designs and patterns. They drew a final sketch on 18" x 24" (46 cm x 61 cm) manila, cut it out and traced it onto gray chipboard. A few cardboard cars needed to be reinforced by gluing tongue depressors to the back of very thin areas. Students spent several days painting the cars with tempera, mixing colors and using Egyptian style patterns.

After the paint dried overnight, students brushed on three layers of shellac waiting fifteen minutes between layers. Some students added gold glitter the next day. Each student drew designs with white glue, then poured glitter on the wet glue, knocking the excess glitter onto a poster board. The cars were dried flat overnight.

The forty-five to fifty finished cars were displayed with name tags in a large showcase in the lobby. The school mascot is a panther, so a "god" with a person's body and a panther's head wearing an Egyptian headdress, stood in the middle. In a cartoon balloon it asked, "If the ancient Egyptians had driven cars, what would the cars have looked like?"

Students were very enthusiastic about the project. One student was confused about what animals lived in Egypt and made a penguin car. A few made taxis, pizza vans or school buses. Many wanted to make a second car. They also made Egyptian style sunglasses for a second project. The entire project took eight or nine days of forty-three minute classes.

Studying Egyptian art helped students to understand how art is influenced by the society and culture in which it is made. The combination of modern, familiar cars with the ancient art styles forced the students to stretch their imaginations.

Margaret Ross teaches art at Johnson Park Middle School, Columbus, Ohio,