Category Archives: Kids Blog

KIDS’ BLOG! Take a Glimpse into the Lives of the Ancient Judeans and Make Your Own Piece of History

Posted on February 17, 2015 | Leave a comment
A cuneiform tablet similar to the ones on display in the Bible Lands Museum.

A cuneiform tablet similar to the ones on display in the Bible Lands Museum.

Have you ever sat down at the end of a long day and written in your diary? Or maybe you just updated your Facebook status and shared what you ate for dinner or how you were feeling after a difficult day at school. What if ancient people from thousands of years ago had done the same thing? We could learn so much about the way people lived, how they felt, what they did. These are the kinds of things archaeologists get to study when they are lucky enough to find written records and testimonies from ancient times. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Blog, Culture, Kids Blog, Kids: Communications, Kids: Culture, Kids: Literature, Kids: Public Life, Literature

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Proverbs II: Timeless Words and the Soul of a People

Posted on February 5, 2015 | Leave a comment
An ancient Viking rune symbolizing fertility and new beginnings. In modern times, it is often used as a symbol for the saying "Where there's a will, there's a way."

An ancient Viking rune symbolizing fertility and new beginnings. In modern times, it is often used as a symbol for the saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

In Part I, we discovered how proverbs, sayings that carry a message or truth, seem to be a part of every culture going back millennia. In the oral tradition, before writing could delve deeply into the world of ideas, societies needed ways to instruct people as to how they had to behave. Proverbs arose as an effective way to do just that. Their wise and often witty words and images embodied the values of a culture. And while cultural values can be quite complex, proverbs were popular because they conveyed that idea, that value, that moral in a distinctive and memorable way. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Blog, Communications, Culture, Kids Blog, Kids: Communications, Kids: Culture, Kids: Literature, Kids: Public Life, Literature

Tagged , , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Proverbs I: Timeless Words and the Soul of a People

Posted on February 3, 2015 | 1 comment
Book of French Proverbs from 1845.

Book of French proverbs published in 1845.

Every culture has a story to tell, and that story is told in many ways. Artifacts, legal records, letters, journals, art, music, dress, even the detritus of daily life uncover the ways of a people. Values and mores are realized through rituals, religions, oral and written histories, monuments and palaces, and many more touchstones of culture. In particular, language and the expressive arts have produced some remarkable observations of lives lived long ago. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Art, Blog, Communications, Culture, Education, Kids Blog, Kids: Communications, Kids: Culture, Kids: Education, Kids: Literature, Kids: Public Life, Literature, Public Life

Tagged , , , , ,

25 Days Left Until the LegacyQuest 2015 Deadline!

Posted on February 2, 2015 | Leave a comment

LegacyQuest large logo blue border

LQ collageIt’s not too late to bring history to life! Submit your video showing how the past has resonance today. Join in our international film festival for tweens!

Final videos due February 27, 2015

Leave a comment

Posted in Blog, Kids Blog, LegacyQuest

Tagged , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Do You Love Being Fashionable? So Did Our Ancient Ancestors!

Posted on November 20, 2014 | Leave a comment
Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net, Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net, Image courtesy of artur84 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic, artur84 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

UPDATE! This post was originally published on September 27, 2013. In the post below we bring you fascinating information about an ancient sweater found last year in Norway that is remarkably similar to some of the fashions we wear today. It is so important for us to study ancient clothing and textiles like the Norwegian sweater because the information we learn gives us clues to how our ancestors lived and it teaches us that we have a lot in common with those who came before us. Recently, another exciting discovery about ancient clothing was made on the island of Cyprus at the archaeological site of Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou. A workshop complex was excavated which appears to have been used for “textiles and dyeing.”[1] Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Culture, Fashion, Kids Blog, Kids: Culture, Kids: Fashion

Tagged , , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Blowing Their Tops: The Destructive History and Amazing Science of Volcanoes

Posted on November 6, 2014 | Leave a comment
Lava flow from Mount Kilauea. Image credit: Adrian Glover

Lava flow from Mount Kilauea. Image credit: Adrian Glover

UPDATE! This post was originally published on September 3rd, 2013. Right now an ancient volcano in Hawaii is causing a lot of trouble for residents. The Kilauea Volcano, located on the Big Island of Hawaii, is actually its youngest volcano, but that doesn’t mean it’s a baby by any stretch of the imagination. It is over 300,000 years old and has been constantly active since prehistoric times. It is one of the world’s most active volcanos and features prominently in many Polynesian legends, including the story of Pele, a volcanic goddess who is said to live in the Kilauea crater.[1] There is even archaeological evidence of the eruptions that have taken place since antiquity. Footprints frozen in time leave reminders of those who have lost their lives to this powerful force of nature.[2] Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Blog, Kids Blog, Kids: Meteorology, Kids: Natural Disasters, Kids: Public Life, Kids: Science and Tech, Meteorology, Natural Disasters, Public Life, Science and Technology

Tagged , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Take a Trip Through an Ancient Roman Kitchen

Posted on October 7, 2014 | 2 comments

KitchenWhat would it be like to cook and eat in an ancient Roman kitchen?  Would there even be a stove or an oven?  Did these ancient people have any way to keep their food cold?  Did they have a sink or running water?

Archaeologists, led by Professor Jeroen Poblome, digging at a site in Turkey, have discovered a nearly 2,000 year old kitchen in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Sagalassos.  Originally part of the expanded Roman Empire, this city is located in the southwestern part of today’s Turkey.  Professor Marc Waelkens and his team from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium had been digging in this site since 1990, painstakingly uncovering the hidden city.   Poblome’s team has joined them, and the archaeologists were delighted this summer to uncover a kitchen dating as early as 200 CE.[1] Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Architecture, Blog, Culinary, Culture, Kids Blog, Kids: Architecture, Kids: Culinary, Kids: Culture

Tagged , , , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Chinese Kites Soar Throughout History

Posted on September 2, 2014 | 2 comments

Chinese Bird KiteDid you know that kites were invented 2,300 years ago?  A Chinese philosopher, Mo Di, who lived from 468-376 BCE, designed the very first kite in the shape of an eagle.[1]  It was not made out of paper, because paper had not been invented yet.  Instead, he used wood.  Imagine how hard it must have been to fly a wooden kite!  Amazingly, he did manage to keep it in the air for a whole day.  His student, Gongshu Ban, later nicknamed Lu Ban, learned how to build kites from Mo Di.  He even improved upon his mentor’s design, making a bamboo kite in the shape of a magpie, which is a bird common on the Eurasia continent.  Lu Ban was able to keep his kite in the air for up to three days.[2] Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Blog, Communications, Culture, Kids Blog, Kids: Art, Kids: Communications, Kids: Culture, Kids: Public Life, Kids: Science and Tech, Public Life

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Rain, Rain Go Away: Ancient Weather, Modern Predictions

Posted on August 21, 2014 | 1 comment

hurricane

Update! This post was originally published on June 25, 2013. Hurricane season 2014 has been pretty quiet so far, but you never know when a tiny little storm system can gain momentum and become a full-fledged hurricane. Ancient civilizations had to face threats from weather just like we do today, but they didn’t have the amazing technology we have that can track and predict storms. Read our post and learn more about ancient weather and take advantage of our all new activities after the post! Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Kids Blog, Kids: Meteorology, Kids: Natural Disasters, Kids: Public Life, Kids: Science and Tech, Meteorology, Natural Disasters, Public Life, Science and Technology, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

KIDS’ BLOG! Seeing Ancient Invisible Ink Through Modern Eyes

Posted on July 31, 2014 | Leave a comment
Image by Noel Hidalgo Tan, Antiquity Publications.

Image by Noel Hidalgo Tan, Antiquity Publications.

Invisible ink, such a simple and yet crafty way to keep secrets. You may know that it was used in wars such as the American Civil War, the American Revolutionary War and both World Wars, but did you know it was being used thousands of years ago by ancient civilizations? In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History, an early encyclopedia, about how the milk of the tithymallus plant could be adapted as an invisible ink. Ovid spoke about secret ink in his Art of Love. Ahmed Qalqashandi, a medieval Egyptian writer and mathematician, described several types of invisible ink.[1] And recently an article published in LiveScience explored a startling new discovery at Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple regarding invisible ink.[2] Ancient invisible ink didn’t always start out as invisible and in this case the ancient artists probably had no idea that their stunning works would one day be hidden to the naked eye. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Blog, Communications, Culture, Kids Blog, Kids: Art, Kids: Communications, Kids: Culture, Kids: Public Life, Kids: Science and Tech, Public Life, Science and Technology

Tagged , , , , , ,