Egypt Thinking Day Compilation

EGYPT PLAY SCRIPT from Troop 70.
Ancient Egyptians wore the standard "Cleopatra" look.
Modern Egyptians mostly wore long white dresses or robes, and headscarves.
The Ancient Eygptians come in from stage left “walking like Egyptians.” 
A: I feel like I’ve been sleeping for thousands of years!
K: It sure was cramped in that mummy case!
M: Nothing looks familiar! Where are the pharoah’s palace and the gods’
temples? 
N: I see the pyramids and the sphinx, but they look all worn out and broken.
All: WHERE ARE WE?
The Modern Egyptians enter from stage right to the sound of drumming [me
playing my belly dancing drum] and F and C singing their song [a song they
learned in Arabic-language camp this summer], then suddenly “notice” the
Ancients.
The Moderns: Marhaba!
The Ancients: Where are we??
The Moderns: This is Egypt!
Annie: If this is Egypt, then why aren’t you speaking Egyptian, and why can’t
we read any of the signs?
K: Egyptians speak Arabic now! Arabic writing is different from hieroglyphics.
M: Where are the temples to worship Isis and Osiris?
A: We are Muslims now. We worship only one God, Allah.
K: What’s wrong with the pyramids and the sphinx?
F: They are 3000 years old! Air pollution from the cities is damaging them, but
we’re trying to fix them up.
Ancients: We’re lost! We're hungry! We’ve been in mummy cases for 3000 years.
Who will help us?
F: You’re in luck. We’re Girl Guides. It’s a worldwide association of girls
whose motto is: Helping People.
C: Maybe you’d like to join the Guides! All you have to do is make the Guide
promise: 
(All Ancients & Moderns make the Salute & say the Egyptian Guide Promise:)
I promise on my honour 
to do my best to do my duty 
to God and my country, 
to help other people at all times, 
and to obey the Guide Law.
K: Would you like some dates? (Offers everyone dates from her bowl)
A: We used to eat dates too! (Everyone takes some dates and eats -- or pretends
to.)
M: I’m feeling much better! 
A: Would you like to play Mancala? (A & N sit down to play mancala.)
F: Come on, we’ll teach you our dance. (F & C start teaching A their dance.)
K: And we’ll teach you to walk like an Egyptian! (K & M start teaching F & K
the Egyptian walk).
All walk and dance offstage.
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Here are some things for Egypt from "Springboards to International
Activities Book 2" by the Clover Group.   There address is Trifolia Limited,
42 Hampstead Circle NW, Calgary, Alberta T3A 5P1

I am posting this one activity to the list because I have personally used
this game over the years and really enjoy it.   I purchased 12 dowels for my
Pathfinders they are about middle finger in diameter and we use them for
gadgets at camp as well as this game and another one......

The game is called :Catch the Stick and each player has a stick.   Players
form a circle leaving about five paces between each other.  Each person 
holds her stick in front, keeping it upright with one end on the ground.
When the leader calls out "Change"  each person lets go of her stick and
reaches to catch the stick of the person to her right before it falls to the
ground.  If the stick falls, the person who should have caught it is out.
The game is over when only one person is left.

Now for my variations:   Only one stick is used, the girls all have a number
and stand in a circle with the person in the middle with a stick.  The
person in the middle calls a number and that person has to catch the stick
the person who called the number then takes her position and her number.
If the stick is dropped that person calling the numbers remains in the
middle.

Food:

Dates are widely grown in Egypt. so try making date halva, a non-cooled
candy which will keep well when kept in a covered container.

Chop up stoned dates and add chopped walnuts, chopped almonds and icing
sugar.  Mix well in a bowl.  Roll the mixture into a sausage shaped roll and
cut into small pieces.  Serve dusted with more icing sugar.

There are all kinds of neat ideas in these books and for $7.00 each they are
well worth the money.

The countries in these books are Argentina, Australia, Ghana, India,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Vol 2 has Brazil,
China, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Norway, Scotland, and Spain

Here are some more things for you:

Let's Begin:-   This activity could be done by individuals but is probably
easiest to do in small groups.

Each group sits together on the floor, each with the same edition of a
newspaper (we have those weekly small papers here that are free)......Blank
paper and glue or tape and scissors.

Challenge each group to cut out letter form the newspaper to spell the name
of the country as many times as possible.  No two letters may come from the
same work in the newspaper.  The letters are then glues or taped to the
paper to make the name.  Set a time limit, such as 10 minutes, and see how
many Egypt's each group has.  For younger girls, use the familiar name
EGYPT.  Older girls could try the official name of the country, JAMHURIYAH
MISR ALARABIYAH, the translation of which is The Arab Republic of Egypt.

CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB

Discuss pyramids and mummies.  Explain that some people believe that those
who enter a tomb are cursed with bad luck.

Read the following introduction and ask each small group to act out what
they think would follow.

"We are going to explore a tomb in an ancient pyramid.  We had all heard
about the curse but decided to go anyway.  As we crept along the secret
passage leading inside, we were trembling because the air was cold.  We
could see a faint light far off in the distance.  There was a very strange,
unpleasant odour around us.  What was it?  We all thought about having been
warned about entering this place, but we had also heard about the golden
masks and the precious jewels which could be found.  A sound came from
somewhere ahead of us, just around the corner.  We carefully crept to look
around and......"

SPEAKING ARABIC

Materials:  For each group,  a copy of the following story as well as a copy
of the ten words (in Arabic only):

An Egyptian Bazaar is an exciting place to be.  It is like an open-air mall
with lots of things for sale.  You can buy yummy __________to
eat,__________if you are thirsty,_______________to wear,_________________for
your feet,_____________to use for making clothes, and _____________for your
neck, hands and ears.   There is lots of noise!_____________are yelling to
attract customers,__________________argue about the cost of their purchases
and_____________ and_____________________are running all over the place.

WORDS:    HILYA-T (jewellery), BAYYA' (shopkeepers), A'YILA-T (housewives),
QAMAS (material). QUT (food), ALBISA-T (dresses), DAWWAB (animals), MARAKIB
(shoes), MASRUBAT (drinks), ATFAL (children)

Each group chooses an Arabic word to fit into each blank in the story.  They
could try to read it out loud first.  Then the leader gives the translation
of each word and each group could then read aloud the story they actually
wrote, filling in the English words they chose.

SEEGA

Materials:  Paper and pencil; three markers for each player

This is a simplified children's version of a traditional game which has been
played in Egypt for more than 5000 years.  It is played in pairs.  Players
draw the board and place their markers as shown.  They take turns moving one
of their markers either one or two squares in any direction.  A marker may
not pass over another.  The winner is the first player to get three markers
in any straight line across, down or diagonally, as long as it is not in the
players original line.   (The diagram is like an X & O game and to start the
markers are in the three squares at the top and the three squares at the
bottom.....middle line is clear.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

Divide the girls into two teams and form two circles.  Chose a gueen
(leader) for each team.  The queen lightly tickles the player on her left
who then tickles the next player, and so on around the circle.  When the
action is all around the circle, the king starts a new action.  This
continues until someone on either team makes a sound.  The team which keeps
silent the longest is the winning team.

( I typed this word for word......so I do not know where the King comes
from.......)

CARTOUCHE NAME TAGS

MATERIALS:  Salt clay (made from 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 2 tablespoons
mineral oil and 2 cups boiling water), gold paint, toothpicks, pictures of
hieroglyphics, string.

When archaeologists study hieroglyphics, they know that a cartouche, the
symbol s with an oval frame around them, indicate the name of someone.

Give each girl some salt clay to shape into a flat oval.  Make a hole for
hanging at one end.  Paint with gold paint.  When it is dry, use the
toothpicks to scratch hieroglyphics into it.  Use a piece of string through
the hole to hang it around the neck.
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I also wanted to suggest
(just in case you hadn't thought of it) writing to the embassy.  I have been
given great stuff from some countries; others send a little, but they all
respond. :-)
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I ran across this site and thought it might be of use for those needing cards
for holidays or those needing pictures for international things.  
It is on the Crayola Factory Website
Crayola color index
There is even a picture to print out for Egypt for girls to color.
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If your girls are Brownies or young Juniors, check out the DK Children
Just Like Me series for info on kids in Egypt.  There's a basic one,
then Celebrations & Stories.  They're recently published & in bookstores
if not in your library.
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My Troop is also doing Egypt.  Our Sevice Unit this year is doing Flights to
visit countries. So we're decorating a room to look like Egypt.  Teaching the
Guide promise from Trefoils Around the World.  Having a snack involving dates
and anything else we can come up with.  I did come across a good web site of
basic Egypt info but nothing on Guides and/or scouts.
TourEgypt.Net
It has a kids section with a special history and coloring pages.
There are also recipes but, no games,songs, etc.
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Dear Theano - I know just what you mean - whenever you say "Egypt" people
think Pyramids.  I went there for a vacation trip about 4 years ago and can
let you know a little bit from my experience there for 1 week and also my
experience living in the middle east for 3 years (Saudi Arabia).  Egypt is
a poor and highly populated country.  Cairo alone has about 13 million
people living in it.  It's rather dirty and crowded, but the people are
very friendly.  THe language they speak is Arabic and many of the people
are Muslim.  There is also an ancient Christian denomination found here
called the Coptic Church.  It was started in the time of the apostles. 
Food here is your basic Middle Eastern fare - music is the arabic music. 
They do have belly dancers - being a Middle Eastern dancer myself, I found
the style of dancing to be interesting.  You might get someone from a
Middle Eastern Dancing club to come speak to the girls and teach them some
dancing.  I had an Egyptian friend in Saudi Arabia who used to have ladies
dancing parties and they were lots of fun.  You might be able to find
something on the Internet from the American International School in Cairo. 
I think it's called the Cairo Academy or Cairo College or something like
that. I bet that they have an American g.s. troop who could tell you about
their country.  The reason they don't have Egyptian g.s. sites is probably
because it is such a poor country.
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I lived in Egypt for 3 years, and worked with a Lone Troop Overseas there.
They do indeed have Guides, but it is a very small group and there is
literally no information available about them.  There is a little in the
WAGGGS booklet "World Games and Recipes", but not much.  "Trefoil Around the
World" has a bit more, but is pricey...see if your Council has a loaners
copy.  It used to have pics of uniforms, too  , but I have not seen the new
version yet.
The craft we did was to cut the cartouche shape out of construction paper
and let each girl stamp her name or initials in hieroglyphics ( you can find
those kits in book stores -- you might want to get more than one, and then
have a drawing for them at the end if you don't want to keep them)  and  tie
it on them with yard or string.
I had the advantage, having lived there, but you can make a skit about the
building of the pyramids, or the sphinx.  Anything from Cleopatra works,
too!  (had to do one of those skits with my girls...everyone wanted to be
Cleo LOL!)
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Belly dancing would be a perfect performance! Yes, a Coptic wedding
reception wouldn't be complete without belly dancing. Copts are Egyptian
Orthodox (Christian - predates the split of Eastern and Roman rites,
similar to the Eastern Rite). At the reception the drummers come down -
tambourines too and then the belly dancers followed by the bridal couple.
The bridal party ends up dancing (I'm not a dancer). The belly dancers
visit each table. Now, belly dancers are not allowed to show their bellys -
no skin - but see-through netting is fine. (This is due to the crack down
with orthodox Muslims.) Belly dancers are paid well there but are looked
down upon due to their profession. We saw a dervish dance too - used to be
religious; the Muslims only allow it now as a tourist attraction.

Now if a doumbec is a tall drum, yes they play it. 

Many (most in Cairo) Egyptian girls dress as we do. During Ramadan, a girl
would wear a scarf (cover hair, but not face). The scarf would be a solid
color generally edged in white. Blouse covers elbows, skirt pass the knees
- anything less is considered immodest. 

Crafts - inlaid boxes/furniture are common. To make it economical get shiny
pieces of paper and cover something as a mosaic. The true stuff uses mother
of pearl - to me a little goes a long way; my sister and her husband would
like the entire house to have such furniture. I saw lots of stuffed camels
with sewn features - that's a bit involved, I'd think. We went to a place
where they teach "12 +" y.o. how to weave carpets - silk is a biggy (it
shimmers). The paper weaving in the Brownie handbook would work. These
girls whizzed through the loom - you couldn't see their fingers when they
worked at expected speed. We also saw papyrus being made and then the
paintings on the paper.

You might try to find any Arabic song - it would be sung in Cairo. If you
check out your library, you may find language tapes for Arabic. I did here.
The accent/dialect used was Egyptian. At least your girls picked the
"King's Arabic." :) 

I have no idea about GS in Egypt. I certainly didn't see any uniforms when
I was there - just school uniforms. 

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How about "Walk Like an Egyptian" dance with mummy costumes! 

In our school the 7th grade history class studies that time period.
Might be worth asking a history teacher.

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I have the 1958 (?!?!?) Trefoil Round the
World Book.  Back then the Arab Republic of Egypt's promise was -

I promise on my honour to do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to
help other people at all times, and to obey the Guide Law.

THE LAW 

A Guide's honour is to be trusted.
A Guide is loyal to God and her country.
A guide's duty is to be useful and to help others.
A Guide is a friend to all and a sister to every other Guide.
A Guide is courteous.
A Guide is kind to animals.
A Guide obeys the orders of her parents and her Patrol Leader and Captain.
A Guide smiles and meets all difficulties with patience and cheerfulness.
A Guide is thrifty.
A Guide is pure in thought, word and deed.

MOTTO

Be Prepared

BROWNIE PROMISE

I promise to do my best:
To perform my duty towards God and my dear country;
To help people every dat, especially my family.

BROWNIE LAW

Brownies obey all people older than themselves.
Brownies do not give in to their own desires.

BROWNIE MOTTO

Helping people

AGE GROUPS

Ranger			16+
Guide			11-16
Brownie 		6-11

	It was in 1925 that Guiding and Scouting were introduced into the
Egyptian schools, though as far back as 1913 there had been Guides, and
international companies had been in existence.  Those companies had included
girls of many races with different religions and languages.  Egypt was a
Founder Member of the World Association.  The national organization, the
Egyptian Girl Guides Association, was formed in 1929.

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There is a book by "Eyewitness Books" called "Ancient Egypt" that has the
answer to most of the questions. There are also "kit books" that have stamps
for hieroglyph writing and pyramids (the book folds out to look like a
pyramid and has info about the inside of it)
Try the following; based upon our "Journey to Egypt" patch program offered
from Prairie GSC in Northeast Mississippi.

Locate Egypt on a map. What continent is it on? How would it's location have
helped in its creation as a great city?

Study the Nile. How does it help in present times and ancient times? Why is
Egypt called the land of the Lotus?

Learn about the Girl Guide program in Egypt. What is the promise and law?
What do the uniforms look like?

Learn about the Cairo market places of the past and present. What types of
goods are found there? Make an item you would find there. What types of
fruit, vegetables and animals would be found there?

Create an Egyptian market place.

What is papyrus? Could you make paper like the ancient Egyptians by using
modern materials?

Learn how to write your name using the Egyptian alphabet. (Hieroglyphics)

Learn about the native Egyptian clothing past and present.

Build your own pyramid.

How did the ancient E's irrigate their crops? What types of crops did they
grow?

What woman was the only pharaoh to ever rule Egypt before Greek rule? What
happened to her after her rein? Where is she buried?
Hatshepsut


What musical instruments did the ancient Egyptians have/ Make one of these
simple instruments/

Why did Egypt fall from power?

What role did religion play in ancient Egypt?

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I got the pictures of the Guide uniform from my council office which is only
20 miles away.  Don't know if you have access to such materials.  It comes
in handy sometimes.  I'd be glad to snail mail you a copy, although it's in
black and white.  The older guides wear a white blouse, khaki skirt, red
neck-kerchief, and red beret type hat.

I also was able to borrow from my council office a book entitled Trefoil
Round the World.  In it are all of the WAGGGS countries guide promise, law,
etc.  I'd be glad to mail you a copy of that also.

I like your skit idea.  Unfortunately we can't do anything like that under
the forum we are using.  I'd like for my girls to learn more about modern
Egypt also.  To research their info sheet, I'm going to check out
encyclopedias from the library and bring them to our meeting.  You reminded
me that Egyptians are Muslim.  I have a Muslim outfit (black gown) from when
my sister-in-law served in Desert Storm.  I could display that if the girls
wanted.

I'd love for you to share with me any other ideas you may have.  I think
that Ancient Egypt is what most people identify with when they think of
Egypt, that's why there's so much material out there on it.  Especially with
such landmarks as the pyramids and the Sphinx.

What age level is your troop?  I have 4th grade Juniors.  This is my 5th
year of leading.  Our Thinking Day is a service unit event, with about 200
girls attending.  We usually have about 15 troops that host a booth on a
different country.  Last year we did Greece.

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Don't forget the Coptic Christians. The muslim majority is persecuting them
tremendously of late in Egypt.
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They have certainly not gone all western!  When my co-leader for my wider op
to Greece went to Egypt as a GS as a girl she encountered that.  She could
pass for Egyptian and when she went to visit a school, the headmistress got
all over her (in Egyptian) for not having her head and arms covered.  Look
at news photos and you will see that.  The male caftan seems to still be
pretty big, as are camels.  The girls could easily wear a headdress - just
look in Nat'l Geographic to see what some of the styles are.

Belly dancing is popular (in Cairo I understand each neighborhood has their
own, sort of).  I think they do a henna design on the hands similar to
India.  They also make that weird sound by holding onto he side of one
nostril and doing a high pitched, quickly repeated "na, n, na..."   You saw
it at the end of the gulf war from the ladies greeting the troops in Kuwait.

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A couple of observations:  When I was in Egypt (for a week or so, about
10-15 years ago), I discovered that English was not at all common as a
second language.  The most common (European) second language was French --
and I hadn't studied French since 1966, and did poorly in it then!

The other thing -- can you get logos for some of the common American fast
foods in Arabic?  The kids can recognize the logos instantly.  (Most adults
have difficulty, because they see a different alphabet and freak out!)  I
still have a coke bottle (labeled in Arabic) that I brought back (to match
the one labeled in Hebrew that I got the same trip).  I also took pictures
of a KFC.  Most kids are fascinated with such familiar logos looking so
foreign.  That idea might fit in with your skit idea.
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Last year, my troop did Egypt. I too, was wanting to do MODERN Egypt. What I
found out was that, outside of Cairo and the tourist areas, Egypt hasn't
exactly changed much. Cairo is a big city, like most others in the west OR
east--yep, McDonald's, blue jeans, and rock music. Then there's the
tourism--almost entirely devoted to the ancient civilization. Outside of
that narrow corridor along the Nile, the nomadic peoples still *are* nomadic
peoples, just like thousands of years ago. Which is, I guess, what you might
explain--there are still people that live a simple life. But...these nomadic
children aren't Scouts, either .

I was quite hoping to find *something* modern, especially about Scouts, but
really didn't. I don't want to perpetuate a myth, that Egypt is only ancient
relics.

What I never got around to doing was to call the local University and see if
there is professsor FROM Egypt that might help you out. You might have to
call several departments--including history, languages, sociology, etc.
There might be a resource there.
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  Here are some websites about Egypt that were posted
on another list I subscribe to.  I have not checked
them out, but thought they might be helpful to you:
University of Memphis Institute
of Egyptian Art and Archaeology
Egyptian fun facts
Rosetta Stone Coloring Book
ThinkQuest Anice Egypt
Daily Life in Ancient
Egypt
Egyptian Internet Resources
Mummy Maze 
touregypt.net
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Here are some links I saved when we started
working on Egypt. Right now I have a MOM working as Thinking Day coordinator,
so haven't dug any further. .....And we do need a recipe!

 IPL Youth Collection: 932: History of Egypt t...   
Egypt - Guardian's Egypt - Main Gate

This one is good for a number of holidays around the world, but does not focus
on kids, or celebrations: The Worldwide Holiday and Festival Site .

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I don't have the bookmark here at work, but I do at home and will
try to send it this evening...its the Egyptian Minister of Tourisms' site
and its fantastic!
One of the troops that did Egypt last year did "embalming"...it was a hoot
- they wore  the togas (sheets) and one girl narrated the traditional
embalming ceremony...they used jello jigglers for the guts, etc.  Actually,
even tho it was really funny, it was truly educational.  If you are
interested in this, I can try and get you the script they wrote.  

One neat craft idea would be to imitate papyrus paintings...you could do
this by using grocery sacks, and wadding them up till the surface is soft,
then paint on them, spray them with clear gloss sealer when dry...looks
just like papyrus!

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We did Egypt a couple of years ago and had fun with it. We took a big
refrigerator box and opened one side for a "screen/bulletin board" behind our
table. On that we put pictures of ancient and modern Egypt that we found in
travel brochures and Nat. Geographic. In looking at the pictures, we noticed
that on buildings and art work we often saw geometric borders using red, blue,
and gold. So, we mounted the pictures on red construction paper and did borders
using little rectangular pieces of construction paper (yellow and blue as I
recall). Then I got some of the gold/glittery hot glue sticks and the girls
added highlights to the borders with that. It turned out well, and kind of
unified the photo presentation. 

We had some displays that the girls brought in, of heiroglyphics,
clothing--whatever they had. For a craft, we had a heiroglyphics stamp pad set
(I think from the Metropolitan Museum of art Catalog) and the girls did their
initials in hierglyphics on strips of paper and then laminated them with clear
contac paper and we gave them a safety pin for them. I think that on the back
of the papers I printed the event name, date, and our troop number.

For costumes, we took brown paper and made big collars and cuffs like you see
in some of the pix of ancient Egypt. They decorated them with crayon to look
like inlaid jewels. The collars were just on the front, and were safety pinned
to the girls' shoulders.

We decided to go a little goofy for the performance and it was a big hit. We
danced to "King Tut" by Steve Martin. Basically they held their hands together
over their heads and wiggled their hips, and made "pharoah" motions with their
arms. (Hope you know what I mean--sort of both arms bent at the elbow, one hand
going up and one down.) My co correographed it and it was simple and fun.

For the GS/GG info, I used Trefoil ARound the World. We had a rubber stamp of
the pyramids for the girls' "passports" and made a food from the internet--very
sweet dessert type thing--mostly sugar and butter!!
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Regarding modern Egypt, and at least some basic facts, have you looked
at 

World Factbook
(gives a list of all countries)

World Factbook - Egypt
(specifically Egypt).
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My troop chose Egypt too.  I thought it would be fun to make thoses cartouches
(sp?) and write their names in heiroglyphs.
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One group made cartouches.  These are names written in heiroglyphics.  I have
seen a kit of symbol stamps somewhere. (Smithsonian catalogue? or maybe a
teacher supply)
They used cardboard and made necklaces out of them.
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Have you seen The movie Prince of Egypt? Has some neat ideas. Such as the
costumes, chariot rides, Sphinx. How about that song Walk like an Egyptian?

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My junior troop also picked Egypt.  We have a fairly good start on planning for
it.  The girls chose two crafts - mummies using clothespins and strips of
cloth, and scarbot beetles (for good luck) using smooth rocks painted gold,
then the girls can use markers to make them look like bugs.
 
I'm supposed to be looking for Egyptian music to  play in the background.  Also
the girls voted to make 3 foot tall paper dolls to show the guide uniforms.
Our girls are going to dress "Egyptian" using black yard wigs and collars.
They also want to research a fact sheet to hand out.
 
A few web sites that I had found when I started my research are
Guardians's Egypt
touregypt.net
Egypt WWW Index

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The obvious is using doll babies to make mummies and sugar pyramids for your
display.  Not very original, but what the hey, it's only 8:00 am.  

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