Mummy Madness

Last year I got this crazy idea to incorporate a really hands-on project with my 13 first and second graders during a unit on Egyptian mummies. It was several months into school, so I had already learned from previous, less involved art projects that you can never be overprepared. I resolved to complete a sample project myself, have all the materials ready, and even write out my own list of step-by-step instructions so the whole thing would go smoothly in the classroom.

Yeah, right.

The project: Making a cat mummy inspired by the real thing.

(real thing)

Procedure: I found a book at the library with instructions on making a cat mummy using old socks stuffed and tied, strips of fabric from old t-shirts, and tea bags. My mom got in on the fun, too. She helped cut and dye the fabric, partially stuff the socks, and draw little faces on the poor departed felines.

We ran into our first problem at home. Most people would have torn the fabric, dyed it in tea, dried it in the dryer, then tied the strips together for bandages. We do things differently in the Ozarks. My mom and I tore the fabric, tied the bandages into roughly 10-ft-long strips, dyed them in the sink, and then brilliantly threw the whole gigantic, enormously confused heap into the dryer. And oh, the monster that emerged. It took the two of us an hour to navigate through that maze. We might have been hallucinating by the end of it.

Perhaps I should've taken that as a sign and dropped the whole silly project. But nooo. I just had to keep going.

The plan was to have the mummy heads prepared so the students could stuff the bodies, tie the ends with my help, and then wrap the bandages. Simple enough. I was prepared. Nothing would catch me off-guard.

When the time rolled around, I explained to the children what they would be doing and they could hardly contain their excitement. Their very own cat mummy! To take home and show Mom and Dad! COOL! So I triumphantly unveiled the example I had prepared:

(cute, huh?)

The sight was met by a satisfying mix of oohs and aahs, until one little girl said, "It looks like the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes!" How do you keep from laughing at something like that?

When I pulled out their mummies, it was apparent that the body was made from socks. "Stinky" socks, they thought, since the tea had made them so dingy. I passed one out to each student, instructing them to leave the socks on their desks until everyone had one. Here was an interesting display of the difference between girls and boys. All the girls picked up their partially-completed mummies and began rocking them in their arms, cooing at their imaginary babies. The boys turned theirs into weapons. If they weren't bludgeoning each other with stuffed cat heads they had them turned upside down to use as punching bags. Different, yes, but alike in that none of them left the sock on their desk as they were told!

Once I regained control of the room, I passed out old newspapers for the kids to tear up and begin stuffing. Boy, did they love that. I was trying to do damage control as paper went flying when I noticed one first grade girl sitting quietly with her paper opened, trying to read one of the articles, oblivious to the mayhem surrounding her. It was the oddest thing to discourage her from reading and tell her to be destructive instead.

Finally, the bodies were stuffed, the feet were tied, and it was time to pass out the bandages. It seemed straightforward enough with a neat little bag for each student. I think some kids might ahve been trying to mummify themselves instead of their cats.

The wrapping was tricky, though not much more than I had anticipated. Thankfully I had a parent volunteer to help with finishing up the project. But it was still chaos. I had the students sing through their review songs just to control the noise level as we adults walked around to help as needed.

At last, we were finished. All the trash was thrown away, and sitting atop each student desk was a quirky, one-of-a-kind, homemade cat mummy. I orally quizzed them about the why and how of Egyptian mummies to reinforce why we did that project. Yes, their minds were on ancient Egypt. My efforts were a success, of sorts.

As the students packed up, one second grade boy showed me how the bandages were coming loose over his mummy's face. "Mrs. Smith," he said excitedly, "mine's a wounded Civil War soldier!" Then he made his mummy/soldier hobble around on his desk, groaning from the pain of his battle scars.

Did I say ancient Egypt...?