A new exhibition entitled Tutankhamun the Boy: Growing Up in Ancient Egypt will open in London later this year, coinciding with the centenary of his tomb’s discovery. It will explore the time and life of the young king as he grew up at the royal palaces in Amarna and Gurob. Ahead of this exciting exhibition, we will take a look in this blog at some kids activities and games children would have enjoyed in Ancient Egypt.

Kids’ Activities: What are Our Sources?

Much of what we know about the daily life of the ancient Egyptians comes from what they depicted on the walls of their tombs. Tombs resemble a sort of resurrection vehicle containing all you need to make it to and thrive in the afterlife. Many tomb walls feature beautifully carved and decorated scenes that speak not only about important cults and magical acts needed, but also illustrate the myriad day-to-day activities of the deceased.

The tomb of Mereruka (dating to the Old Kingdom, c. 2,345-2,323 BC) is one such example where we can find scenes of kids activities and joyful playing. Mereruka was a high official under king Teti of the Sixth Dynasty. On the north wall in the hypostyle hall, there are scenes that show acrobatic activities.

Two girls here stand in the centre and whirl around two other girls in a circular fashion. Is this more of an acrobatic exercise? On the right of the scene, there is a group of musicians using clappers to produce sounds. Such activities may reflect cultic activity or performances that were done for the benefit of the deceased. These scenes on the tomb wall would have magically improved their enjoyment in the afterlife.

Whirling Activities at Beni Hasan

The magnificent tombs of officials at Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt also illustrate active and fun activities kids enjoyed. At the late Eleventh Dynasty tomb of Baqet III (c. 2,000 BC – BH 15), we can see two men at the centre who whirl two girls around.

Baqet’s tomb also contains scenes of girls juggling balls. Another scene shows two girls each, one riding on the back of another, who are playing against each other a kind of ball game – the objectives elude us unfortunately.

Scenes from near the south wall of the tomb of Khety (Late Eleventh Dynasty, c. 2,000 BC – BH 17) show many boys playing a variety of different games. One boy acrobatically balances upside down on his head, while in another scene several boys carry a boy on their shoulders. A scene featured below shows two boys playing a game that uses wooden sticks and a type of hoop. Holding the sticks, they seem to cause the hoop to roll forward. Do you think the sticks do resemble some form of a ringette stick?

Did you also notice in these photos how barely dressed the children are? The boys are wearing a girdle, but are otherwise naked. Egypt’s warm climate may be one factor. Even today, kids love running around and playing outside; it was no different then.

What about toys?

Outside of chores and work, children would have played with pebbles and rocks, pieces of cloth – whatever you could turn into a toy. Flinders Petrie’s excavations at the town of Kahun have uncovered a wide range of toys from the time of the Middle Kingdom. We know of balls made of both wood and leather – see a wonderful example of a leather ball in the collection of Manchester Museum. Petrie also found small wooden sticks that resemble tip-cats (5), whip-tops, and small figurines, some shaped as animals.

Egyptian kids also played with dolls and wooden figures. A remarkable little example is the figure of a mouse. It features some black lines as decoration and a wooden rod runs underneath the clay body. Kids must have pushed the mouse around as if were alive!

Recently, the Manchester Museum undertake a recreation of a wooden horse that dates to Roman times. The body of the figure survived, but they were able to reconstruct some wheels, and, similar to the mouse above, kids would have pushed it around!

Let’s play a board game

Many people enjoy playing board games, and this was also the case in antiquity. In a previous blog on kids activities, I mentioned the game Senet in passing. Ancient Egyptians also played a wide variety of board games.

The snake game, or Mehen, consisted of a coiled snake, where the squares were drawn or carved on the body of the snake. You would have six marbles and six markers (three lions and three lionesses). The game was played up until the late Old Kingdom, when it seems to have fallen out of popularity; however, it continued to carry symbolic and religious meaning. Egyptian religious texts (such as the Pyramid Texts) refer to the game and invoke the deceased’s ability to make it to the afterlife by being successful at the board game:

“I am that one who emerged from the Coiled One (NS: a reference to the board game here): I have emerged with my fiery blast, my one that turns (opponents) away.”

Pyramid Texts Utterance 332 (6)

In similar fashion, being successful at Senet had positive outcomes for one’s afterlife.

Swimming as a Fun Activity

Adults and children alike would have enjoyed swimming in the waters of the Nile and its many side channels as a means of cooling off in the hot Egyptian climate. We know of many scenes that show the deceased with his partner and children hunting for various waterfowl in the marshes. The scenes also feature children enjoying being near water.

Above, we see Nebamun (a scribe from the Eighteenth Dynasty) hunting for birds on his papyrus raft while his partner stands behind him. Underneath, we see his child identifiable by the shaven head with a side lock of hair. Children would have learned how to swim and we know from an inscription in the tomb of Khety I at Asyut that upper class children especially received swimming instructions. Khety writes in his autobiography:

“I am the beloved of [the king], whose officials know his eminence; the foremost of Upper Egypt, to whom rulership was given as a man of one cubit, who was front-ranked among the youths [ ] he received swimming instruction together with the royal children.”

Khety I in his autobiography (7)

Learning about children in Ancient Egypt

Several scenes in tombs vividly illustrate the many games and kids activities Egyptian children enjoyed. To add to our understanding, the archaeological record has revealed numerous objects that have been identified in the past as toys. Nevertheless, the function of some of these “toys” and games has been lost to time. Were they used instead as instruments for textile weaving (5) or used in cultic activities? The interpretation of archaeological material is hardly straightforward. Moreover, what we do know archaeologically about the lives of Egyptian children is fragmentary at best. Ultimately, what we do have leaves us only with a small window into their lives.

Notes

1. Flandrin, P., P. Chapuis, and A. Gros de Beler. 2012. Mastabas de l’Égypte Ancienne. Le Maître du Tombeau. Arles: Actes Sud – page 221.
2. Shedid, A.G. 1994. Die Felsgräber von Beni Hassan in Mittelägypten. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 16. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern – figure 123.
3. Newberry, P.E. 1893. Beni Hasan. Part II. London: Kegan Paul – plate VIIIA.
4. Shedid 1994, figure 129.
5. Caroline Arbuckle elsewhere has suggested these tip-cats are actually shuttles that were used in weaving.
6. Allen, J.P. 2015. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. 2nd ed. Atlanta: SBL Press – page 73.
7. Lichtheim, M. 1988. Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies Chiefly of the Middle Kingdom. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht – page 29.