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Fun time

              Hieroglyphic is one of the oldest systems of writing. It was invented by Egyptians. They carved
              characters and symbols, known as hieroglyphs.

              Follow these steps to prepare your own clay tablet and carve out hieroglyphs onto it.

                                                                                      experiential learning  cross-curricular  Hist

                           Prepare the clay for the
                 Step 1:
                           tablet.


                  You can use clay bought from the
                  market. Add brown colour to it to
                  give it a natural look. Knead the
                  clay to mix the colour evenly.



                           Form a slab from the
                 Step 2:
                           clay dough.

                  Take a chunk of clay and flatten it
                  into a slab approximately 1-inch

                  thick. You can use your palms to
                  press on the clay or something heavy
                  to flatten the clay into a wide slab.



                           Cut the slab into a
                 Step 3:
                           rectangle.

                  Cut the slab into a rectangle with a
                  plastic knife or just shape the slab
                  with your hands. Don’t make it
                  a perfect rectangle, a little bit of
                  unevenness around the corners
                  will give it a more ancient look.                       A clay tablet in the Istanbul Museum of
                                                                               the Ancient Orient, Türkiye.


                 Step 4:   Carve out some                                 Step 5:   Let it dry.
                           hieroglyphs.
                 Carve some characters or symbols                         Let your clay tablet dry and become
                 using a plastic knife, a small stick or                  hard. It may take more than a day to

                 anything sharp.                                          completely dry.


              *    to be done under adult supervision
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