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Primary Source: Picture of the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments were a huge piece of Mesopotamia.

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Video: The Assyrian Empire

This video provides facts about the beginning and end of the Assyrian Empire.

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The rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire - Marian H Feldman

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Children's Book: A book that takes a look at Ancient Mesopotamia.

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Class Activity: Jeopardy review over Ancient Mesopotamia.

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I was a Babylonian King , I was the leader of the Hebrews when the group began , I was one of the most legendary historical figures, I was a heroic priest-king from the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, I was the king of the Chaldeans who ordered the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

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Primary Source: Chariots were first created in Mesopotamia.

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Video: Mesopotamian Music: Hittite Chariots.

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Ancient Mesopotamian Music - Hittite Chariots

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Children's Book: A book about Gilgamesh the King, half-man and half-god.

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Class Activity: This activity gives students a situation and has them write down what Hammurabi's Code of Law says. They then say what they would do and their reaction to what he did.

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Primary Source: Here is a list of leaders. A monarch is known as a leader.

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The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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List of Rulers of Mesopotamia | Lists of Rulers | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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"All of Mesopotamia's ruling dynasties in chronological order encompassing Southern Mesopotamia (Akkad, Ur, Kassite, Babylonia), Northern Mesopotamia (Assyria, Mari), and United Mesopotamia (Achaemenid dynasty)."

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Video: This video shows the rise of monarchy in Mesopotamia.

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The Rise of Monarchy in Ancient Mesopotamia

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Children's Book: This book gives facts about Assyrians and Non-Assyrians.

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Class Activity: Here is a Nebuchadnezzar's Dream's Activity that includes coloring templates and online activities.

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Last week in Sunday School we learned all about the Fiery Furnace, and this week we're going to learn about the dream that might have inspired the problems in the fiery furnace.

Actually if you want to get technical, Nebuchadnezzar didn't have just one dream. So it shouldn't be Nebuchadnezzar's Dream activities, it should be dreams activities, but that sounds weird.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream activity 1

Nebuchadnezzar's dream is one of those passages that Biblical scholars and people who are into prophecy like to read and argue about, I mean my prophets pinterest board is filled with diagrams of this dream. For the first few parts of the statue there is universal agreement on what each part represents. Everyone agrees the head is Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, the chest is Persians, the hips and thighs is Greece, and the legs are Rome. It's the feet everyone argues over. Who do they represent? Has it already happened, will it happen at the end? Oh the debates.

But for my kids, the fun was all in the making of the statue. We gathered all our toilet paper rolls and made our own versions, then we rolled a giant stone at them just like happened in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

Eventually it turned into a bowling game, and the kids keep bringing it back up, "we should play the statue game again Mom." It's also a great jumping off point for who that rock is. It's generally agreed that rock represents Christ who in the end will reign over all, but it's fun to talk about.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream activity 2

Nebuchadnezzar's second dream is even stranger, especially because it's written in first person. He dreams about a tree, and it being cut down, and then Daniel says, "Bad news king, that tree is you and you're going to go crazy." Then Nebuchadnezzar spends several years as a lunatic behaving like an animal.

It's weird, and not the fun weird of Revelation that has cool imagery or later chapters of Daniel. I mean the, "why is this in here?" weird. But then we reread the passage.

And that is why it's in there. In the end Nebuchadnezzar realized he was not the most important person or in control of the world. God is. That's what we need to remember through it all.

To go with this part of the story we had fun making monster face snacks, which really means "tremendously large amounts of sugar snacks." Either way the kids were pretty happy about the whole thing.

While all of this discussion of statues and empires is fun, how does it really relate to us?

Why do I care about Nebuchadnezzar's dream? Either of them?

Both of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams shows God's sovereignty, and his omniscience. Only a God who is all-knowing can predict the future. Only an omnipotent God can bring down the most powerful man and restore him to his place.

We learn much from these dreams about our place in the world. Just as God showed Job his power when Job complained, so God shows Nebuchadnezzar who HE is when Nebuchadnezzar thought himself bigger than everyone.

Get your own copy of Nebuchadnezzar's Dreams lesson by clicking here or on the picture up above.

To finish up Daniel's story head over to Daniel and the Lion's Den lesson .

Get all of the Old Testament prophets lessons here.

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Last week in Sunday School we learned all about the Fiery Furnace, and this week we're going to learn about the dream that might have inspired the problems in the fiery furnace. Actually if you want to get technical, Nebuchadnezzar didn't have just one dream.

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Primary Source: Here is a picture of the City of Babylon.

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Video: Attached is a video about Tigris and Euphrates.

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Children's Book: A book about the Babylonian Empire.

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Class Activity: This website gives an interactive activity over Phoenicia, including geography and facts.

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If you teach World Civilizations, you most likely cover Ancient Phoenicia. If you are scrambling to revamp your lessons into a more digital friendly format, or are looking for some fresh ideas, save some of the time and headache with this low prep and digital friendly virtual field trip!

Have you heard of virtual field trips? If structured well, they are an interactive and meaningful way for students to experience history up close and personal! In this virtual field trip to Ancient Phoenicia, your students have an opportunity to explore ancient Phoenician ruins up close! This lesson incorporates Google Earth which allows students time to explore and take ownership of their learning, while also providing a means of structure with response questions, informational text, and map skills. Everything is done! Just assign in Google Classroom, or if you'd rather, conduct as a teacher-led activity. The response questions are editable, so you can tailor this to meet your class needs.

This digital activity was especially fun for me to put together, as I have personally visited the different ancient ruins and have incorporated some of my own photos from these travels. Ancient Phoenicia spanned across present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Northern Israel. In this trip, your students will stop in 3 major Phoenician cities: Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. All of the cities are located in present-day Lebanon. Students will pinpoint each of the locations on a map prior to visiting.

This virtual field trip is guided and includes student instructions and all the links needed within the activity. It also incorporates informational text so that your students have some context and background information before they explore the different ruins. After students have learned about and explored each stop, response questions are provided. I recognize that having the ability to edit is really helpful in being able to meet the different needs of our students, so all of the response questions, which are set up as short answer, can be modified as needed.

I do want to point out, that while students are visiting ancient Phoenician ruins, as the cities were conquered, new construction occurred on top of the Phoenician construction. This means that some of the ruins they visit may also feature ancient Roman construction or ruins from the Ottoman Empire as well. I have made sure to point this out within the field trip, and this is an important aspect in understanding ancient history.

I love using Google Earth because students have an opportunity to "walk around" and explore. Within this digital activity, I have included clickable links that take your students directly to different viewing sites. There are lots of great 360-degree views on Google Earth, that it can be overwhelming, so I went through and found some of the best 360-degree views to give students the best viewing experience. This will also help keep students on track as they move through the field trip.

I don't know about you, but simple is key when it comes to digital learning, and I have done my best to make sure this activity is simple and easy to use, while still providing students with a fun, interactive, and meaningful learning experience.

Not sure about virtual field trips? You can check out this free virtual field trip to Ancient Egypt where students learn about and explore the Valley of the Kings--the burial site of King Tutankhamen! Learn more .

You can check out my entire collection of Virtual Field Trips

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Learn about the Ancient Phoenicians: A Digital Activity

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If you teach World Civilizations, you most likely cover Ancient Phoenicia. If you are scrambling to revamp your lessons into a more digital friendly format, or are looking for some fresh ideas, save some of the time and headache with this low prep and digital friendly virtual field trip!

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Interactive Activity:
Mesopotamia 5 Traits of Civilization

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HISTORY'S HISTORIES You are history. We are the future.

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Review: Who were the Sumerians? The Rise of Civilization The domestication of crops and animals is called agriculture. Before the rise of agriculture, people were nomadic hunter-gatherers .…

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Interactive Activity: This Teachers Pay Teachers Activity provides information about Mesopotamia and some online activities.

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This product includes a menu of nine ranked and varied activities that can be used as a formative or summative assessment. Activities are assigned points, students choose their activities to add up to 16 points or more. Read the information below and view the preview for a more detailed look!

Each activity includes its own description page.

Includes grading rubric.

Sample Activities:

Create an infographic of the most important Mesopotamian inventions.

Explain the significance of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Write a press release announcing the invention of the wheel.

Compare and contrast Hammurabi's Code to US laws, etc.

Topics Covered: Skills Covered: Other Information:

Google Drive and Google Classroom Ready

Distance Learning Friendly!

Grading Rubric Included

Google Slides

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Distance Learning: Digital Mesopotamia Choice Board Menu Project

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DISTANCE LEARNING FRIENDLY! NO PREP!:::::This product includes a menu of nine ranked and varied activities that can be used as a formative or summative assessment. Activities are assigned points, students choose their activities to add up to 16 points or more. Read the information below and vie...

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Interactive Activity: The students can build their own Assyrian empire and build their own cart out of legos.

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This post may contain affiliate links.

We are on Chapter 16 of The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times, where Assyria returns to power. The king is Ashurbanipal and he conquers many cities, up and down the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, including the powerful Egyptian empire.

One method that the ancient Assyrians used in battle during this time period (668-627 BCE), was the Siege Tower. This large tower on wheels had a battering ram sticking out of the front to knock down walls that surrounded cities and villages. Then the Assyrians would move earth by the bucketfuls to build a ramp next to the wall and drive the siege tower into the city, shooting arrows and taking over.

Firefly, my 7 year old, was tasked with building a siege tower out of Legos (whenever we can, we build lego creations for history, science, whatever, since he loves doing this but this is actually also in the The Story of the World Activity Book).

There actually is a no-longer-produced Lego kit of a Siege tower. We used a picture of that as our model. Firefly decided to modify his to include stairs and soldiers.

Well, once we had that, we just had to take it out for a drive military invasion. So Firefly used his wooden block set to make a city with a wall.

I brought in some sand from a bag we had in the garage and a cup to scoop it with and Firefly made a ramp, just as the Assyrians did, to drive the siege tower into the city.

He added a lion, as Ashurbanipal was known for hunting lions as well as for having a personality like one.

He acted out the battle and played with this for quite some time.

Next, we learned a bit more about Ashurbanipal, like how he made the first library. He ordered his scribes to write down all of the important things that happened during his reign. He also sent people out into his empire to collect clay tablets from the countries and empires he had taken over. He added these to a collection of clay tablets, inscribed with stories that had been told for generations. Many rooms in his castle were dedicated to this, the first library. It is the reason we now know many important things about that period of time.

So King Ashurbanipal was the first librarian. Would you want to incur overdue fines with this guy? Yeah, me neither.

We made another version of a "clay tablet" (really a giant piece of butcher paper) of what Firefly would want the world to know about his greatness one hundred years after he dies. Again, I acted as his scribe and jotted down what he said. We used several prompts (in italics). This is an activity from The Story of the World Activity Book.
The Great Inventor-Emperor Firefly My favorite thing is playing with animals. I like to play with my dog. The best thing I ever did was invent the Stay Alive Forever Machine, the Money Making Machine and the Wish Machine. I also made my own planets. My family was great because they gave me my own Jeep to drive. I gave my siblings each their own planet. The best thing about me was I made a lot of things for the world.
I just love the inventions, don't you? Couldn't we all use a Stay Alive Forever/Money Making/Wish machine? And giving each of his siblings their own planet? Sounds generous but I assure you this is really designed to move them far, far away so he can take over total control of the t.v. as well as be assured that they could never ever mess up his lego creations ever again.

Anyway, we had fun with our travels to ancient Assyria. After a brief stop in Babylon (Chapter 17), we are moving on to ancient Crete next week.
Fabulous sites that I link up with.

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Ancient Assyrian Activities | Creekside Learning

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We are on Chapter 16 of The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times, where Assyria returns to power. The king is Ashurbanipal and he conquers many cities, up and down the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, including the powerful Egyptian empire.

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Interactive Activity: Here is a hands-on activity for the hanging gardens in Babylon.

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Hands-on Ancient Babylon Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Known as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were thought to have been a showpiece in the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and built by King Nebuchadnezzar. But there is some debate among scholars if it really even existed or it was just a fable or who actually built it. While some historians believe that the gardens towered hundreds of feet in the air while others believe it was much smaller, there is also some debate on just exactly where the gardens were located.

It is said that the gardens were built to help Nebuchadnezzar's wife Amytis get over her homesickness. She was from a region that was green and mountainous and very much unlike the flat land of Mesopotamia. Again, there is some disagreement here. Some believe that the queen Sammu-ramat who ruled after Nebuchadnezzar was responsible for the gardens instead.

They were built with layered platforms of stone and filled with trees, hanging plants, and flowers. The gardens are thought to have disappeared during an earthquake and we do not have any physical confirmed evidence of their existence but there are varied accounts of them throughout history and foundation vaults and chambers were located near the palace by archeologists that could support their location.

This is a great hands-on project for children from middle elementary up through high school and can be done while you read about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It can be made as simple or as elaborate a project as you wish.

To make your own Hanging Gardens of Babylon you will need the following items:

A floral foam block

Cream or tan craft paint

Play sand

Tools-wooden skewer, spoon, wooden craft sticks,etc..

Small silk flowers, real flower cuttings, greenery

Tacky craft glue

Knife/cutting board

Paint brush

I was able to pick up all of our items at our local Dollar Tree and some we had on hand with plenty of leftovers for another project. This makes it a really inexpensive way to get some hands-on learning.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon Hands-on History

Start by cutting floral foam block into 3 pieces of graduating size, so that your layers when stacked leave a ledge on each one. For little ones you can let them cut their own foam with a wooden craft stick or even a plastic knife (the foam is soft and easy to work with). Press a skewer down through the center to secure them together. We will trim it later.

It is very simple to add foam pieces together and make this project as large as you like. We stuck with a small tabletop version so that everyone could make their own to enjoy looking at.

Search for photos of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon online to use as a reference and leave it open as your child works. We looked up several sites to get a clear picture of what they are believed to have looked like. Use your tools to carve out windows, doors, columns, steps, etc. in the foam, this is a great medium for carving. Our preferred tool was a wooden skewer because it gives great detail.

Brush away any excess foam in your carving with a soft paint brush to give it clean sharp lines. If you use something too stiff it will wear away more of your foam. You could also blow it clean with canned air if you like.

Hands-on History: Ancient Civilizations

Mix cream or tan craft paint with a couple teaspoons of play sand. We are going to create a texture that is similar to bricks or stone on our tower. Paint your structure all over, be sure to get some inside your carved areas. Allow to dry for 2- 3 hours, or until completely dry to the touch.

Place on a plate or other flat surface in a small bed of play sand. Lift up your top most layer and snip off the skewer, leaving enough that the top piece remains secured.

Begin decorating by laying moss all over the levels, letting it hang down randomly and securing with glue as you go. Press the plastic end of small flowers, greenery, and even small pieces of aquarium plants into the foam to make your gardens lush and exotic looking. Secure your plants with glue if you feel like they need a little more anchoring.

Imagine the beauty that must have been there as they walked throughout the various levels, the exotic scents and sounds.

Also, I wanted to let you know about this. If you're looking for more hands-on history, we love using Home School in the Woods.

We added a few blue pebbles at the bottom for water. This is an ideal time to talk about the watering system they were believed to have used on the gardens- a series of waterways to deliver water to the top that then cascaded downwards, very similar to Archimedes Screw.

You'll love these other hands-on Ancient Civilizations fun activities:

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Hands-on Ancient Babylon: Hanging Gardens Fun Activity

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy. Known as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were thought to have been a showpiece in the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and built by King Nebuchadnezzar.