Da Nile ain't just a river in Egypt..... completed and long post!

Last week was a really fun week.  We learned about the Nile river, how it floods every year, and why those floods are beneficial to farmers.  We also learned the Egyptian myth as to why it floods. Osirus, the great god who ruled over Egypt, was drowned by his brother Set so he could take over as king of the gods. Set tricked his brother by building a coffin to fit only him, then tossed them into the Nile.  When Isis, Osirus's wife, searched the Nile to find the coffin, she found that her husband was indeed drowned.  As she wept in grief, the Nile did too and the river ran dry.  Isis wrapped his body in linen, making him the first mummy, and he came back to life.  The Nile was overjoyed and overflowed its banks giving everyone water, and has done so every year thereafter. 

We made our own Nile to flood using a 9" x 13" aluminum pan, tinfoil, river rock, soil, and grass seed. Here the kids have added the soil to the pan.

After putting the entire bag of river rock in the tinfoil Nile River, it was time to add the grass seed.  Travis went a little overboard here.  Notice the bigger rocks?  Those are the mountains in Upper Egypt where the Nile begins, and then on the opposite side is the Nile Delta, where the river is (slightly) wider.

Now that everything is ready, it's time to flood it.  Madeline adds enough water in the river to overflow into the soil.

 Of course, the Nile wouldn't be complete without a crocodile.  Now we wait, and we'll flood it again in 1 week.  Hopefully the kids won't play in it too much!

Day 5 update:

Both kids have been super excited about checking the progress on their grass.  Here's what it looks like on day 5.  Madeline is really looking forward to flooding it again, and mentions it no less than 6 times a day.

Day 7 update:

Flood day!  Someone was very excited about today.  She couldn't believe how much the grass has grown in just 2 days, and even made a reference to the farmer's crops along the Nile. 

Madeline told me this morning that she LOVES history!  We'll watch our Nile for another week or so and see what happens.  In the meantime, we've learned about hieroglyphs and how they used to be written on stone tabs.  Madeline even got to decode her own special hieroglyph, and Travis colored in the symbols.

Day 15 update:

The grass is so tall now that it bends outward.   I think we'll paint a little pot and place the grass inside, so we can get the Nile off the kitchen counter!