Myth Makers: Stories in the Stars

For the past five years, the Louisiana Art and Science Museum has invited my Myth Makers or Roman Technology students to run hands-on history activity stations at a First Free Sunday event. My students, ranging in age from 10 to 16, view this opportunity as a way to share what they've learned over the past year with other kids. The museum views it as a way to bring in patrons who love hands-on activities for their kids. I view the event as a way to promote the classics. I've been so lucky to have this event sponsored by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South's Committee for the Promotion of Latin and Greek through one of its Bridge Grants. The grant form is easy and quick to submit, and the committee is extremely responsive to funding requests.

This museum, with its mission, "seeks to enhance the understanding and appreciation of art and science for general audiences and students by presenting unique, educational and entertaining experiences that encourage discovery, inspire creativity, and foster the pursuit of knowledge." Local industry usually sponsors the free attendance, and they love to see activities that connect with STEM subjects. During one such year, we led participants in mixing ancient Roman concrete since a chemical company was sponsoring us.

In the first few years, we focused on Roman technology class activities like mosaic designing, writing on papyrus with authentic ancient inks, firing tiny catapults, building and testing small bridges, and assembling Roman arch kits. In our first year, over 800 people attended the event. Last year, we focused on Egyptian archaeology as the museum celebrated 50 years of its authentic 3rd-Century BCE mummy. We decoded hieroglyphics and mummified apples. We also partnered with the Louisiana Division of Archaeology whose archaeologists offered sand-art stratigraphy! 

If you'd like more information about how I train my students for this event, you can watch this webinar. After every event, the students and I discuss GLOWS and GROWS of the event, and last year, the students decided that they wanted to host a "myth con," or an event that centered ancient Greek mythology. When I offered this idea to the museum, the staff loved it. Before we knew it, it morphed into a collaboration with the Highland Road Observatory as we celebrated International Astronomy Day. One of the museum directors came up with a way to tie it all together; thus, STORIES IN THE STARS was born.

In the first weekend of May, we held our event, and almost ONE THOUSAND people showed up! My students devised a way to represent as many gods and goddesses as we could through hands-on activities. 

Here's what we offered:

Welcome Station - participants picked up a passport that guided them through the stations. If they brought it back completely stamped, they won a prize.

1. Weave with Athena - participants tried weaving on small frame looms. (See more info on teaching your students to weave with this lesson.)

2. Design a crown like Hera's - participants built and decorated paper crowns. (Don't sneeze at these paper STEM challenges. I can't emphasize enough the importance of being able to manipulate paper and tape - they are super simple materials that can yield impressive results. Don't believe me? Check out Godwin Morris' Engineering With Paper Website. In the event that you'd like to take your crown-making to the next level with a STEM challenge, check out this blogpost from earlier in the year.)

3. Write with Hermes - participants wrote on papyrus with oak gall ink. They got to keep their stylus and papyrus. Check out these writing lessons for more info.

4. Build a Trident with Poseidon - my students pre-folded materials so that participants could easily put together this simple paper trident.

5. Fire a Catapult with Ares - our classic popsicle-stick catapults are easy to build, fun to fire, and memorable to take home and continue to safely annoy family members. Check out catapult lessons here. I don't have an awesome shot of catapult firing, but instead look at these AMAZING works of art done by my students that we used as signs at each station.

6. Construct a Bow with Artemis and Apollo - my students designed this little bow out of dental picks and rubber bands with q-tip projectiles! And it worked great!! (If you're interested in archery, check out this STEM challenge on ancient archers.)

7. Taste a Pomegranate with Persephone and Grind Some Grain with Demeter - participants got to try tasting pomegranates while they listened to the story of Persephone and Hades. They also tried their hands at grinding grain with a simple mortar and pestle.

8. Forge a Necklace with Hephaestus and Aphrodite - participants made simple paper chain bracelets and necklaces. (Interested in making this activity into a simple STEM challenge? Read here.)

9. Listen to a Story at the Fire with Hestia - one of my students read from a storybook about constellations. SO MANY children sat down to listen to her. AND a local TV station interviewed her about the event. You can hear her talking it halfway through this clip.

10. Party Pics with Dionysus - several of my students wanted to dress up as Greek gods and goddesses to walk amongst the mortals. We had a starry background and props for cute picture ops. Poseidon counted over 100 pictures requested of him!

During the event, I had SO MANY adults (many of them parents there with their children) ask who my students were, what school they attended, and how to get into the "Myth Makers" program. This is EXACTLY what we want! I also had my students asking to see the exhibits in the museum. The kids won, the museum won, and classics won.  Here's to many more years of collaboration!