We studied the Mayans this week. All the kids agreed that the best history book we studied was Your Travel Guide to Ancient Mayan Civilization by Nancy Day. They enjoyed learning about the Mayans while pretending to prepare for a journey back in time. My oldest son and I read Chris Eboch’s The Well of Sacrifice together. It’s not for the faint of heart, with several descriptions of human sacrifice, but it was a very well-written story and it really gave us a glimpse into their society, both the good and the bad.
My boys love sports, so they were all captivated by the Mayan ball game. We didn’t do any hands on activities this week, but we enjoyed exploring a neat site called The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame. The boys had fun playing a computer game version of the ancient Mayan ball game. It was also fun to watch a video re-enactment of a ball game on the same site. There are lots of fun activities on this informative site, including an interactive map and timeline of Mesoamerica and a 360 degree panoramic tour of a ball court.
Oh, my, what a culture to study.
Our youngest are adopted from Guatemala, So I’m going to borrow some of your ideas and resources.
thanks for posting
kim boyenger
We have chosen Mexico as our country study for the year. Thanks for the ideas. I may have to borrow one of the books from you. 🙂