Our first Field Trip this School Year

This past Labor Day holiday weekend our family went on our first field trip, to the Getty Villa in Malibu, Ca. If you have never been there it is an absolute must. The museum is modeled after an Ancient Greek/Roman villa. The grounds, art and architecture transport you back in to an ancient Greco Roman world. The location of the museum's ocean views give the perfect ambiance of the Mediterranean sea in the distance.

With the holiday weekend they had plenty of family friendly activities for the kids to participate in. These were just perfect for our Ancient Rome unit that we are currently finishing up.

Here are some of the fun things my kids got to do there...

In a hands on kids room the kids had fun drawing on plastic jars that were modeled after Greek ceramic jars.

Other sections of the room had Greek tracing shapes for the kids to use and a "behind the silk" screen for acting out Greek Olympic Warrior scenes.

My kids had fun participating in a trading game. They were merchants in the Mediterranean area buying an exchanging supplies. Here the kids traded a piece of cloth for some olive oil that they were able to make.
I didn't know that cheesecloth is used to separate the olive pulp from the oil.

Crushing olives is hard work especially since they have pits.

Here is the finished olive oil. The oil at the top is what is referred to as virgin, it is without pulp. The oil at the bottom would be used for fuel for oil lamps at the time.

Next the kids got to grind spices. The spices were then added to the olive oil to be made into perfume.

The last trading station was designing a Roman coin. They had fun using a stylus to trace their creations onto a foil type coin.

Please keep in mind the kid exhibits change periodically but I am sure whatever it happens to be it will be an added bonus to any Ancient Mediterranean unit.