DS & Mummies....

[ChristyMarie]

I have no idea where to put this.

My DS, who is 3.5, is obsessed with Scooby Doo (thanks Grandma! LOL) and just loves it. Well he especially loves the monsters on it. His current fave is the mummy. Loves the mummy.

So he started asking questions about mummies and we talked about what they really are and we looked up some pictures of real ones online.

He made the connection that a mummy = dead person.

He was a little freaked at first but had questions and we talked a lot about death and such.

This morning? He wants to watch the mummy episode again.

Trying to decide if I should take him to the museum to see mummies. He's just fascinated right now. Or will seeing it in person freak him out? Online he not only saw wrapped mummies but a couple mummified remains (oops) and he was kinda freaked and kinda curious.

Now I am a horror fan from way back. I was reading Stephen King by the time I was in 7th grade - and probably only waited that long because I didn't know stuff like that existed yet. DS shows all signs of following in my footsteps - his stuffed animal he sleeps with is "demon bear" - a devil bear from a Halloween costume.

I want to let him explore what he's interested in but I don't want to freak him out with stuff that is way too old for him.

Any thoughts?

[fritz]

Let him watch the mummy episode all he wants (or within your media restrictions, if you have them)...each time he sees it, he'll be processing more of what he's just learned and reconciling it with how the cartoon portrays the mummy.

Well, how are the mummies presented in the museum? Are they all wrapped up so you only see the bandages, or do they also have mummified (exposed) remains? Is it from a distance, or up close behind plexiglass?

If you ask him if he wants to go to the museum to see the mummies, and you warn him that there might be some exposed remains, what does he say? If he wants to go, I'd take him. Depending on how the display is set up, you might not have to see the exposed remains (if there's some distance between them and the wrapped up mummies...if they even have the exposed remains--can you tell I haven't been to an Egyptian exhibit?)...or you could warn him to close his eyes, or only look at them from across the hall if he seems anxious about it.

In the meantime, get thee to the library and check out some books about mummies =). It's a common interest, so there should be plenty to choose from.

My almost 5yo DS also loves Scooby-Doo, but he's not really into the mummies. Although we do have a bunch of gauze bandages (I bought the fabric by the yard then cut it into strips; be warned that it does fray/shed a lot) that he sometimes wants to be wrapped up in...it takes a while to do all that wrapping (and last October, when he was all wrapped up, he said he was the unfinished C3PO from Star Wars Episode I).

And check out the homeschooling forum here on mdc. There's been several posts (not recently) about mummifying a chicken carcass as a science experiment. If you're willing to do it, your DS might be fascinated by the process.

[GuildJenn]

I took my 4.5 yr old to the King Tut exhibit and it went fine (even the mummified cat), although he was more obsessed with the overcrowding than the actual exhibit (sigh...). Playmobil has an awesome Ancient Egypt series and some of the sets come with a little mummy skeleton with a case.

[Jessy1019]

I think it would be a great idea to go to an exhibit like that and encourage his curiosity! Similarly, we went to the Bodies exhibit when the kids were little (somewhere around 2 and 5), and it was really interesting for them -- sure, it was a bit creepy, but it was also fascinating.

One of my daughter's friends has been into Egyptian related things for ages . . . we hooked her up with a Playmobil Egypt set for her last birthday.