This book will keep a child entertained for days on end. There is a huge wealth of fun and interesting information within, plus great activities. As a children's librarian I was able to plan a whole program around this title complete with activities. Loved it.

I freely admit that as soon as I saw the over of "Pyramids: 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt," that I immediately saw in my mind's eye teachers yoking their students to harnesses so they could drag giant stone blocks around the playground (think of the scenes from "The Ten Commandments"), or subjecting a most unruly student to mummification. Now, all of this would be wrong, very wrong indeed, so you should just stick to what Avery Hart & Paul Mantell come up with for young students to do in this Kaleidoscope Kids book.

Ancient Egypt is presented in these pages as the land where magic and mystery meet, and young students are encouraged to "Egyptianize" themselves, forgetting about things like cars and televisions to focus on what sort of objects (e.g., rope, jewelry, balls, etc.) that were a part of the life of people living in ancient Egypt. You can play Egyptian-Style Tug 'o War, make your own scarab (so you can honor the beetle), and make up your own spell having being inspired by the ancient spell for a stomach bug. You can even make a pull horse toy or Egyptian lady (or goddess doll). Consequently, by the time you finish the opening section where you learn that kids are still kids, even when separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years, teaches and students alike will find these activities to be fun.

Granted, a class is not going to get to do four dozen activities for a unit on Ancient Egypt, but teaches can certainly pick and choose. Besides, some of these activities, such as making a Time Line, can be done for any culture or period being studied. Some, such as making a miniature Egypt or a reed boat, are pretty specific. No surprise here, but the section on Pyramids has some of the most interesting activities, such as making a sledge, to understand how they moved around those giant stones, creating a little clay or cardboard pyramid, a pop-up pyramid with a pop-out pharaoh, or actually making a Lego or block step-pyramid. I also like the instructions on how to "Draw Like an Ancient Egyptians" (are the Bangles still in vogue with elementary school kids?).

Actually, I think you can easily work in a dozen of these projects in the classroom, perhaps having different students do different activities. While some are making a cartouche, others can be making a Soul House model or an amulet. Students might be impressed if the teacher shows up wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt one day, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt the next (with a Silver Cobra added on), and then a Nemes. You can also throw an Ancient Egyptian Costume Party and play Senat, an ancient board game, not to mention dance like an Egyptian. Certainly teachers looking for activities that are both fun and educational will find several to their liking n this book and the others in this series. The bottom line is that I wish we had books like this when I was in grade school.