ART
YEAR 1
Ancient Egyptian Art
Desired Result
Children will understand that Ancient Egyptian art was created to preserve a record
of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. They will also understand that Heavenly Father
wants us to be a record keeping people. Children will create an Egyptian cartouche
using hieroglyphs.
Academic Idea:
Ancient Egyptian art was created to preserve a record of
Egypt’s ancient inhabitants.
Gospel Principle: Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people.
Preparation & Materials
Lesson: Online
 1-10a—Handout: Egyptian Art Descriptions  One copy for each child
 1-10b—Pictures: Egyptian Art Collection  Fourth set of Art Cards
 1-10c—Picture: Crocodile God of Egypt
 1-10d—Picture: Wall Painting of Neferati
 1-10e—Picture: Book of the Dead
 1-10f—Picture: Tutankhamen
 1-10g—Picture: An Angel Saves Abraham by Del Parsons
 1-10h—Picture: Bust of Nefertiti
 1-10i—Picture: Great Sphinx
 1-10j—Picture: Pyramids of Giza
 1-10k—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 1
 1-10L—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 3
 1-10m—Picture: Rosetta Stone
 1-10n—Link: Hieroglyphs of Neferati
10
 1-10o—Handout: Egyptian Hieroglyphs  One copy for each child
 1-10p—Handout: Egyptian Cartouche  One copy for each child
Lesson: Home
 Art Supplies for younger children: drawing pencil, eraser, black marker,
crayons (or colored pencils or markers), practice paper, black construction
paper.
 Art Supplies for older children: bar of soap, carving tools (toothpick, fork,
etc.)
Enrichment: Online
 1-10q—Talk: Spencer W. Kimball “The Angels May Quote From It”
 1-10r—Link: Kids Zone Hieroglyphs
 1-10s—Link: Reading Hieroglyphs
Vocabulary

hieroglyphs

papyrus

cartouche
Lesson
Attention Activity
Let’s begin by looking at some new Art Flash Cards.  Use 1-10a Handout: Egyptian
Art Descriptions to explain 1-10b Pictures: Egyptian Art Collection which includes the
pictures from 1-10c through 1-10L. Pass out 1-10a Handout: Egyptian Art Descriptions
to each child. Mother leads the following discussion of the Art Cards. I’m going to show
you several pictures. As we look at each picture, I’ll tell you what it is and where it is
from. Then we will read the descriptions on the handout.  Review pictures.
Academic Idea:
Ancient Egyptian art was created to preserve a record of
Egypt’s ancient inhabitants.
74
ART
•
YEAR 1
•
LESSON 10
Research
Ancient Egyptian art includes all sculpture, painting, bookmaking, carving, and
architecture or building produced over three thousand years ago by the civilization
living in the Nile Valley. The Egyptian people cultivated many artistic skills and fine
craftsmanship in stone, metal, textiles, and paint. Egyptian art has a unique style and
is very symbolic.

After looking at the art cards, how would you describe Egyptian art? (Large,
the people are drawn sideways, eyes with black lines, big funny hats, lots of
small writing in the form of pictures, animal shapes, people holding staffs or
sticks, colorful, simple lines, lots of repeating shapes and patterns)
Let’s look at the art cards again and find the art that has small writing in the form of
pictures.

Which art cards have writing on them? (1-10c—Picture: Crocodile God of
Egypt; 1-10d—Picture: Neferati; 1-10e—Picture: Book of the Dead;
1-10l—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 3)
The pictorial writing that you see is called hieroglyphics. Egyptian hieroglyphic
writing is made up of picture symbols called hieroglyphs. Some hieroglyphs or
pictures stand for sounds that can be combined to make up a word. Some symbols
represent a group of sounds and some represent an entire word.
The meaning of hieroglyphic writing was unknown for many years until an essential
key was discovered, a carved granite stone.
Let’s look at the stone while I read the following description.  Show 1-10m—
Picture: Rosetta Stone
“It was not until quite recently, a mere 200 years ago, that a stone was found
in Egypt. This stone had the same short story written on it in Greek, in
Demotic [the common script of Egypt], and in hieroglyphics. Scientists could
read Greek. Scientists could read Demotic. And now, scientists could begin to
read hieroglyphics. They named this famous stone the “Rosetta Stone”.
Today, the Rosetta Stone is on display for everyone to see… in the famous
British Museum in London.” (http://egypt.mrdonn.org/hieroglyphics.html)
Egyptians used hieroglyphics as a sacred form of writing. It is found mainly on the
walls of tombs and temples and on the burial relics of the ancient royal families.
Hieroglyphs were also painted on ancient paper scrolls made of papyrus. Papyrus is
an Egyptian grass-like plant that Egyptians would cut very thin and glue together to
make a type of paper. This is an example of papyrus.  Show 1-10e—Picture: Book of
the Dead
 Show 1-10d—Picture: Wall Painting of Neferati and open web-site 1-10n—Link:
Hieroglyphs of Neferati. Here is a wall painting of the Queen Neferati, one of the
Great Royal Wives of Rameses. Her name means ‘beautiful companion’. She has one
of the largest and most decorated tombs in the “Valley of the Queens”, the place
where the Pharaoh’s wives were buried in Egypt. This is a great example of
Egyptian-style painting. Here, Neferati’s head is shown from a profile view and her
ART
•
YEAR 1
•
LESSON 10
75
body from a frontal view. Above Neferati’s head is a golden oval with hieroglyphics.
This is her name.
Now let’s look on the web-site for hieroglyphs of Neferati’s name and compare it to
the wall painting. Notice that the hieroglyphs are not in the same order: one is
written horizontally and the other is painted vertically. Egyptian hieroglyphs could
be read from left to right and up and down.
The golden oval within Egyptian hieroglyphics is called a cartouche. A “cartouche”
(pronounced car – TOOSH) is an oval with a horizontal line at one end, indicating
the text enclosed is a royal name. Around the cartouche are more hieroglyphs that
tell a story about the Queen. These important hieroglyphs have preserved her history
for thousands of years after her death.
Ancient Egyptian Art was created to preserve a record of its ancient inhabitants.
 Write this academic idea on the board.
Gospel Principle: Heavenly Father has been commanded us to keep records.
Reason
Prophets have been asked by God to keep sacred records. The Book of Mormon:
Another Testament of Jesus Christ was written in the Egyptian language and then
translated into English by Joseph Smith through the power of God.
When Nephi begins his writing in the Book of Mormon he says,
“ I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught
somewhat in all the learning of my father… Yea, I make a record in the
language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the
language of the Egyptians. And I know that the record which I make is
true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my
knowledge.” (1 Nephi 1: 1-3)
Nephi knew the language of the Egyptians and he knew how to write that language
on the gold plates.
Mormon, who abridged all the records of the prophets and whom the Book of
Mormon is named after, wrote the following:
“And now, behold, we [Mormon and all the prophets before him] have
written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are
called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by
us, according to our manner of speech.” (Mormon 9:32)
Our modern-day prophets have emphasized the importance of keeping records of
our lives.
“Get a notebook, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the
angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your
76
ART
•
YEAR 1
•
LESSON 10
goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your
failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your
testimonies. Remember, the Savior chastised those who failed to record
important events” (Spencer W. Kimball, “The Angels May Quote From It”,
Ensign, October 1975).

What different types of records are use to preserve history? (Journals,
diaries, notebooks, scriptures, scrapbooks, even tithing statements are
records.)

How can art be a record? (Sketchbooks are like drawing journals. Portfolios
are a also collection of art. Art objects from the past can tell us about the
people and culture of that time.)
Relate

Why is it important for us to keep records? (Without records languages,
stories, traditions, important events are lost.)

How can you keep a record? (Start a journal, draw in a sketchbook, keep a
book of remembrance of stories about my ancestors. Learn how to research
and record family history and genealogy.)
Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people.  Write this gospel principle
on the board.
Review & Testimony
Let’s review the principles we’ve discovered today.  As directed by the Spirit share
your testimony of the gospel principle you have taught.
Academic Idea:
Ancient Egyptian Art was created to preserve a record of
Egypt’s ancient inhabitants.
Gospel Principle: Heavenly Father wants us to be a record keeping people.
Literature

Who remembers what we read in our book last time?  Allow for a recap.
 Read your art literature book aloud for 15 minutes. Underline for art connections with
an orange pencil and gospel principles with a purple pencil.
ART
•
YEAR 1
•
LESSON 10
77
Record
 Choose from the following activities according to time available and appropriateness for
each child. Place recordings in your art notebook in the Art History section.
All Children
1. Record the principles you have learned today in your notebook.
2. Egyptian Hieroglyphics Activity  Pass out 1-10o—Handout: Egyptian
Hieroglyphics, practice paper and appropriate art supplies.
a. Let’s practice drawing the hieroglyphs first. Take out a practice paper
and pencil and place it next to the Egyptian Hieroglyphs handout.
b. Find the hieroglyph that matches the first sound of your name. Now
draw the picture that represents that sound on the practice paper.
c. Continue drawing all the sounds of your name on the practice paper
until you feel successful at each hieroglyph. If some hieroglyphs are
difficult you can trace them from the handout page.
Younger Children
1. Egyptian Cartouche Activity  Pass out 1-10o—Handout: Egyptian
Cartouche.
a. Draw the hieroglyphs of your name on the cartouche with a pencil.
Please draw the hieroglyphs large enough to fill the space inside the
cartouche oval. Remember that the order of hieroglyphs does not
matter. You can stack the hieroglyphs any way you choose.
b. Now use a black marker to outline the hieroglyphs.
c. Next, color the hieroglyphs.
d. You can also color around the hieroglyphs with a yellow, tan, or gold
crayon to make it look like stone or gold.
e. Now draw an Egyptian pattern around the border of the cartouche.
We can look at the Art Flash Cards for examples of line patterns for
ideas.
f.
Now use markers and crayons to color the cartouche border.
g. Finally, carefully cut out the cartouche with scissors and glue it on
heavy paper such as cardstock or construction paper.
h. Hang the finished cartouche on your bedroom door or place in your art
notebook.
Older Children
1. Soap Carving Activity  Pass out a bar of soap and the carving tools and decide
whether to carve over a sink or lay out some newspaper on a table before
beginning the project.
78
ART
•
YEAR 1
•
LESSON 10
a. Now that we have a place to carve, let’s draw the hieroglyphs of your
name on the blank side of a bar of soap with a dull pencil or pen.
b. Next, use a carving tool to scratch into the soap along the draw lines.
c. You can carve line patterns all around the sides also to add interesting
Egyptian details.
d. Finally, wipe away any shavings with a clean cloth.
e. Display your cartouche on a small easel or take a photograph of it to
put in your art notebook.
Enrichment
 The following ideas are for individual or family enrichment and can be used to
supplement or prepare for this lesson.
1. Sketchbook: Draw in your sketchbook a picture of your family in the
Egyptian style.
2. Family Follow-up: Select a time when children’s cartouches can be shared
with family members, such as mealtime, Family Home Evening, or before
family prayer.
3. Fiction Reading: The book “Egyptology” and “The Egyptology Handbook”
by Emily Sands is a wonderful children’s fiction story with activities about
Ancient Egypt.
4. Parent Study: Read the following article 1-10q—Talk: Spencer W. Kimball
“The Angels May Quote From It”.
5. Internet Activity: Go to 1-10r—Link: Kids Zone Hieroglyphs to see an
interactive Egyptian hieroglyphs alphabet.
6. Coloring Pages: Here you can print off large hieroglyphs to color, and learn
more about hieroglyphs and how to read them. Go to 1-10s—Link:
Reading Hieroglyphs.
7. Family Night: Read about Abraham’s facsimile 1, 2, and 3 found in The
Pearl of Great Price. Read the following quote from the first page of The
Pearl of Great Price and discuss the meaning of each picture.
The Pearl of Great Price is another record of sacred scripture written by
Moses and Abraham and it came from catacombs of Egypt. “The
writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of
Abraham, [was] written by his own hand, upon papyrus.” (See History
of the Church 2:234-36,348-51).
Within Abraham’s record there are three sacred facsimiles drawn in the style
of ancient Egypt.  Show 1-10k—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 1 and 110L—Picture: Abraham Facsimile 3
8. Field Trip: Go to a local museum that has Egyptian artifacts. Art is so much
more amazing when you are looking at the original objects!
ART
•
YEAR 1
•
LESSON 10
79