I met Penny Mayes from Take Time for Art in 2017 at a blogger conference and I have to say, she is as delightful in person as she is on video! She was also one of the vendors in the HEAV Exhibit Hall at the 2018 Convention. And when I mentioned we were focusing on ancient history that year, she suggested I check out her Ancient Egyptian Art kit!
These kits are made with the busy homeschool mom in mind!l Why? Because half the reason I don’t like doing art and craft projects is because it’s such an ordeal finding all items needed! We added loads of newspaper underneath to keep the mess to a minimum. That’s it!
The next thing I loved about this kit is I did not have to know how to do anything! Really. I hardly had to be involved at all!
Another thing I love is how Penny sneaks education into her videos as well!
This program is perfect for auditory learners to visual to hand-on, kinestic learners who need to do something with their hands while they learn.
We watched the videos on my laptop. (I couldn’t figure out how to get the videos to ‘”share” on our TV. But, this worked. With more kids watching at one time, though, you might want to figure out another solution.)
Lesson learned though – this might not be the project to do on your dining room table during Thanksgiving Week if you are planning on hosting at your house! I didn’t stop to think, that while each step was fairly simple and short, the paper mache takes A LOT of time to dry, and there were several layers of this to do. This is not a one-and-done type project, but more of one that you will do a bit, let it dry overnight, then come back and do a bit more, and so on. So, while I initially thought this was great for a short week with a holiday, we almost ended up eating Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by Ancient Egypt. It might be better to have a separate place/table to do this project, if you feel like eating at your dining room table!
Also, my girls didn’t want to do their regular work once we started this project! This ended up being vastly more interesting than their “regular” work, and I kinda had to use some bribery to get their regular assignments done. They were learning though and loving it, so that’s not too big a problem. Perhaps Penny could come teach math too?
Work in ProgressThis mesmerized my girls for HOURS. Long discussion of who their mask was going to be, creating characters for those people, etc etc etc. I hadn’t planned on that. It was GREAT, and part of the joy of homeschooling that I could let them do that.
And here is our finished first project (because yes, there are MULTIPLE PROJECTS IN THE KIT!). Please ignore the wear and tear, because these pictures were taken after I found my girls using them as weapons. Sigh. Pharoah Masks and lightsabers apparently do not mix. But, heck, they enjoyed playing with them afterwards!
Take Time for Art could easily work in conjunction with any history program. They currently have kits for Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, and the Middle Ages!
If you would like to try a couple FREE lessons from Take Time for Art, try this link!
I really like these kits, and even more important, my kids like these kits! Ms. Sassypants Preteen really loved it. (She is currently my “Mikey Likes It” kid, so trust me that’s a HUGE complement!) I would definitely consider getting more of these kits in the future.
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[…] In today’s episode, we are talking to Penny Mayes, from Take Time for Art. Take Time For Art website here Previous Review here […]