Mesopotamia

Just a word of advice: Don't buy the natural colored hard blocks of modeling clay!  They are very difficult to work with when trying to do pottery with younger children.  My boys are 9 and 11 and were very frustrated with trying to make the clay pliable enough to create anything.  They made some rough versions of what they REALLY wanted to make and begged me not to buy that clay again.  In fact, I returned several unopened boxes of it to Michael's and bought the "good stuff"--Model Magic by Crayola!  This is soft and very moldable and is condusive to paint, markers, etc.  I love the way you can add just a dot of color from a marker and then "knead" it into the rest of the clay to create a soft color.  It can be baked or not and doesn't dry out as easy as Play-Doh or other mediums.  In hindsight, I think our Mesopotamian pottery project would have gone smoother with Model Magic.

Kids Discover saves the day once again!  I love their great titles, including this one.

Learn Backgammon together!  It has its origins in Mesopotamia!

What he's really saying with this smile is, "Mom, don't ever buy this clay again."  LOL.

The finished products for their unit celebration.  A little cuneiform tablet and a functional pot.  Good job, guys!