Little known fact: The Great Wall of China is made of play dough.
NO really. That’s what we learned in our homeschool history lesson this time. It’s a little known fact from ancient history.
Future Ticia 2019 here, the kids and I are diving into Chinese history this week, so I revisited our Great Wall of China lesson to see if there was anything I wanted to add in to what we’re doing this week.
And, it’s guarded by little play dough men.
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But really, the Great Wall of China history lesson
Or, we learned about China, and how they built the Great Wall to keep out the invading hordes, and how better to get it through their thick little skulls (they need to be thick to protect them from their head wounds, I could almost make that a whole category, did you know I almost went to the ER again a few days ago).
And then we learned about the Terracotta army in our Mystery of History 1 book*, and all of the great detail put into it. Right now, at 12:42 am I’m not remembering the name of the crazy emperor who decided to build that (though that is an improvement on burying your servants with you which the Egyptians did.), so you’ll just have to wonder.
I think I might go to bed. See, I have one kid at home right now, and she’s a night owl too (staying up until 10:30 or so), and so I’m staying up way later than I usually would……..
Ha ha ha ha ha, clearing out the drafts page and saw this one in there. I don’t even know why I almost went to the ER at the end of April. Shows how common or often it’s been.
Future Ticia 2015 here, we studied Ancient history again, and we went into much more detail about the Terracotta warriors.
Want some more information about the Great Wall of China?
- Mulan*- while it’s not solely about the Great Wall of China, it’s a great example of how it worked and why
- You Wouldn’t Want to Work on the Great Wall of China*- my son loves these books
- Mystery of History 1 pinterest board– or find all the cool Ancient history stuff I’ve saved on Pinterest
Well, 2019 Future Ticia sees that I have a lot more to learn about the Great Wall of China beyond it being made of play dough, but that was a great preschool lesson. Though I think we may have completed that during Kindergarten. I guess I will need to add in more once we’ve completed a Great Wall of China lesson as junior high kids.
More Ancient History lessons for young kids
originally published June 15, 2011
We have been learning a little about China. We'll have to get out the play dough!
We have seen a Nova episode about terracotta warriors recently, but I don't remember the name of the emperor either. Your playdoh warriors look really cute!
What a cute idea…putting a playdough wall directly on the map!
I love the playdough wall, and I'm impressed with the detail on your little soldiers! Very nice activity!
Very cute. Have you taken the kids to the miniature Forbidden City outside of Katy? It is very cool. Miniature Chinese soldiers, and really cool replicas. We went before kids and thought it was fabulous.
I love your wall. The soldier is cute too,
Read – Why you wouldn't want to build the great wall of china – GREAT book!
My husband travels to China – a lot – for his job, he's been on the site. Its a live dig – they are still uncovering soldiers!!
and his name I believe was First Emperor of Qin (Shi Huangdi)
Daniel and I watched “The Story of China with Michael Wood” last year, and really got a lot out of it. Chinese history is so vast, it can be overwhelming.
It really can be, and it’s so hard with our Western education to know what is super important, and what is just a repeat of what was before.
They are so cute!
And so little!
We also had a playdough Wall of China once upon a time 🙂 And, incidentally, in about 10 days I am going to see it for real, since I am going on a business trip to Beijing!
I’m super jealous!