Ancient & Modern Egypt at the Children's Museum

On Friday I hauled the kids down to Indianapolis because King Tut has come to the Children's Museum! It just so happens we've been studying Ancient Egypt as we work our way chronologically through history, and King Tut will only be there until late October.

What the Exhibit was Like
There were lots of amazing statues of pharoahs and viziers, treasures from their tombs, a gold mask of somebody, and plenty of text to read. I skimmed the text as quickly as I could so I could attend to my younger ones, who were more interested in wrapping up the visit asap. As we wove our way through the display, I kept thinking we'd see King Tut's sarcophagus just around the corner. Or, knowing how creative the Children's Museum is, maybe they'd even have a make-believe display of his tomb you could walk through. But no King Tut! No sarcophagus anywhere! Not sure why they marketed it as a King Tut exhibit.

In fact, it wasn't really a typical display for this museum. In other words, it wasn't a children's exhibit. It was for adults. And in fact, it was mostly adults surrounding me. It was dark and quiet and we felt we should whisper. I felt bad for another mom whose two-year-old was begging to be put down for a nap. I offered her snacks and admitted that all those security guards everywhere would probably kick me out! But no, he needed sleep, not food. And he certainly didn't appreciate the age of the artwork in front of him.



The Modern Egypt exhibit, in contrast, was quite impressive. Housed where you've seen the World Cultures exhibit, the entire area was dedicated to the culture of modern day Egypt. Here you see Jonas riding a croc on the Nile. I didn't take enough pictures. After "boarding" a plane to the country and learning some intro Egyptian, we visited a restaurant, a home, a store where you can buy head coverings, and much more to educate us on life in Egypt.

On Head Coverings
The toys marketed to kids there, interestingly, had girls all wearing head coverings. It prompted a good discussion on the ride home between my girls and me about the subject. In Egypt, head coverings are not required. It's up to the discretion of the individual or the family. As a Christian, I asked my girls, what would you do? Some Christians choose to wear head coverings, but they are quite different from the Muslim coverings. You could go along with it. Or you could wear a covering but more in the Mennonite style. How do we exhibit a testimony for Christ in a culture that has higher standards of modesty? This is a great question for my friend Alicia whose family is serving in Morocco.