Fun Ancient Egypt Activities for Kids

Nov 30, 2025 0

Summer is here, and parents are looking for ways to entertain their kids while keeping their minds engaged. If you're looking for fun Ancient Egypt activities for your kids, you've come to the right place! Ancient Egyptian civilization deeply valued joy, celebration, and entertainment in daily life. They organized many festivals and ceremonies to celebrate all the moments of their lives, whether they were positive or negative, as they saw the touch of the gods in everything. Here are some engaging crafts and activities to bring the history of Ancient Egypt to life for your children.

1. Write Your Own Ancient Egyptian Myth

When you think of Ancient Egypt, you probably think of their myths. Work with your child and get their creative juices flowing by asking them to write their own Ancient Egyptian myth. Give them a description and a picture of a god. Storytelling was the most influential form of art in Ancient Egypt. These stories gave birth to and evolved into the gods and the belief system of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

2. Create an Egyptian Mask

In ancient Egypt, masks served two purposes: ritual masks and death masks. We’ve all seen these famous masks, made in the likeness of the deceased. Sit down with your children and talk them through how to draw an outline for an Egyptian mask, or provide them with a printout.

3. Bake Ancient Egyptian Bread
Reviving the Art of Ancient Egyptian Bread Baking... WITH SCIENCE! - The Rise of Bread

This is an activity that definitely needs parental supervision! Did you know the earliest known bread was made in Ancient Egypt in 8000 BC? In fact, the Ancient Egyptian’s diet depended heavily on bread. It was consumed at every meal. In Ancient Egypt, bread was made of an ancient wheat called “Emmer”. Andante Travels have an incredible (and fairly simple) recipe you can try, originally found on the wall of Senat’s tomb in Luxor. Details of the recipe are in this link.

4. Write Names in Hieroglyphs

Children love learning about Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. A hieroglyph was a character in the Ancient Egyptian writing system. Hieroglyphs were called “the words of God” by the Egyptians and were used mainly by priests. They were generally used on temple walls or public monuments. For a fun project, print out hieroglyphs and work with your kids to write out their own names.

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5. Build a Pyramid

Who doesn’t love a bit of art and crafts? To get your kids excited about Ancient Egypt, consider making a pyramid out of cardboard. Then all you need to do is follow the instructions listed here. Okay, kids love building things and this is one that everyone will like. Your students can build pyramids with legos, duplos, blocks, and even geoblocks! Break out those math manipulatives for social studies.

Ancient Egyptian Entertainment and Daily Life

Though built around the concept of death and the afterlife, Ancient Egyptian civilization deeply valued joy, celebration, and entertainment in daily life. The ancient Egyptians held a profound love for celebrations and entertainment, as reflected in the many festivals, games, and artistic pursuits that filled their daily lives. They farmed and fished and hunted. The Egyptians belief in magic was an important part of daily life.

Sports and Recreation

The ancient Egyptians spent a great deal of time outdoors, where the children would play in the yard or the streets, various different kinds of sports. Sports like wrestling, rowing, and archery were practiced by all social classes, even pharaohs, while festivals such as the Opet and Sed Festivals celebrated gods, kingship, and nature’s cycles. Both girls and boys were taught to swim and boat from an early age. Archery was known for being the sport of royalty and nobility, like Ramesses the Great (1279-1213 BC) and Amenhotep II (1425-1400 BC). Ancient Egyptian Sports were found everywhere in Ancient Egypt, like it was part of the king's coronation, ancient Egypt military victories, and even in religious festivals and ceremonies. Sports or any form of physical exercise were valued and enjoyed by every member of any social status. The ancient Egyptians would hold competitions like juggling, swimming, rowing, dancing, pageants, wrestling, and javelin, which were very entertaining and popular spectator sports.

Music and Dance

The ancient Egyptian civilization infused their society with the magic and dance of Ancient Egypt; they enjoyed their life to the absolute fullest, and every festival or banquet, or celebration was only considered complete with dancing and music. Within the secular and religious activities, music and dancing were the most important parts. They had various musical instruments, which indicate the importance of music in the daily life of ancient Egyptians. During the banquets, the guests would enjoy a majestic show of gorgeous girls wearing nothing but jewels and lithe acrobats dancing to enchanting music. The musicians and dancers would encourage the guests to join in the party by clapping, chanting. Dancing was one of the main components of ritual and also a celebration, as dance troupes were available to hire to perform for any different event. There were six different kinds of dancing in Ancient Egypt: harem dances, banquet dancing, religious & non-religious dancing, combat dancing, and street dancing. The overall design of a party is not that much different from what we have today.

Games and Toys

There were a lot of board games and toys in Ancient Egypt. Young children would play with dolls, animal toys with movable jaws, and puppets, either made of wood or clay. Many items from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BC) were made of a piece of rope or string. Many of the toys took the shape of animals like cats, dogs, frogs, mice, and birds. A mechanical dog with a lever that moves when someone presses it back was located in Egypt new kingdom (1570-1070 BC). The oldest known board game known to man is Mehen, a.k.a. the game of the snake, between 3150 BC and 2613 BC, which was used as the ritual enchantment of the overthrowing of Apophis. Children enjoyed dolls, animal toys, and board games such as Senet and Mehen.

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Festivals and Celebrations

Social gatherings, temple festivals, music, dance, and a host of games and activities were central to Egyptian culture. These activities served as a means of connecting individuals to the divine, their family, and society as a whole. The most prominent festivals in ancient Egypt included the Opet Festival, which took place during the annual Nile flood and reinforced the bond between the gods Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and the ruling pharaoh, symbolizing divine legitimacy. The Wepet-Renpet marked the Egyptian New Year, coinciding with the rising of the star Sirius, and celebrated the renewal brought by the Nile's floodwaters. The Sed Festival, celebrated after 30 years of a pharaoh’s reign, was a major event intended to rejuvenate the ruler's strength and affirm their divine right to lead. Each festival, from the Osiris Festival at Abydos, which celebrated the cycle of life and resurrection, to the Festival of the Inundation that honored the life-giving waters of the Nile river, reflected the deep interconnection of ancient Egyptian religion, agriculture, and social customs in ancient Egyptian culture.

The Egyptians understood the importance and value of entertainment to the physical and spiritual development of anyone's life, so don't miss the chance to enjoy some of the world's most beautiful artifacts and monuments in the majestic cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, and Aswan.

Festival Name	Description
Opet Festival	Celebrated during the annual Nile flood, reinforcing the bond between gods Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and the pharaoh.
Wepet-Renpet	Marked the Egyptian New Year, coinciding with the rising of the star Sirius, celebrating the renewal brought by the Nile's floodwaters.
Sed Festival	Celebrated after 30 years of a pharaoh’s reign, rejuvenating the ruler's strength and affirming their divine right to lead.
Osiris Festival at Abydos	Celebrated the cycle of life and resurrection.
Festival of the Inundation	Honored the life-giving waters of the Nile River.