My eight year-old son, Mattie, was delighted to receive Fun with Hieroglyphs in its appealingly-designed pack. He lost no time in opening up the stamp and inkpad set and started using the easy-to-follow guide to write words and phrases. He needed a bit of guidance to use the correct symbol for the few instances where there is more than one hieroglyph for the same letter.
He found using the kit lots of fun and is planning to introduce it to his friends so they can send each other secret messages! He managed to get incredibly messy while using it, but fortunately the ink seems to wash off very easily.
Mattie was less interested in the accompanying booklet, but I wonder if he might come back to it. He’s about to embark on Egypt as a topic at school (as I suspect many children of his age are), so this may prompt a bit of research when the time comes.
Fun with Hieroglyphs is certainly full of facts. It is also well written and laid out, and I have certainly learned lots of things about hieroglyphs I didn’t know before! It includes chapters on all sorts of aspects, such as numbers, different styles of writing and scribes. There is much here which can be learned about ancient Egypt itself, as well as the symbols and their uses.
Fun with Hieroglyphs is a great set, and makes a fantastic present that is both lots of fun and educational. Thoroughly recommended!
Fun with Hieroglyphs Catharine H. Roehrig, from British Museum Press is available from Amazon. To order click the link below:
