Hieroglyphs and Papyrus · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Hieroglyphs and Papyrus

History · Ancient Egypt · ages 5-7
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. True or false: Egyptians wrote on paper, just like we do.

    Circle one:   True   False

  2. True or false: Hieroglyphs are pictures, not letters.

    Circle one:   True   False

  3. An old Egyptian wall shows these little pictures in a row. What are they?

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    • Hieroglyphs
    • Numbers
    • Letters like A, B, C

  4. An Egyptian boy spends years learning what every hieroglyph picture means. What is his job called?

    • A farmer
    • A scribe, a trained writer
    • A king

  5. A scribe draws a little eye picture in the middle of a message. What is the eye picture doing there?

    • It is just a decoration to make the message pretty
    • It is a number for counting eyes
    • It stands for a sound or a word in the message

  6. Mia wants to write a message the way ancient Egyptians did. What should she use?

    • Hieroglyphs written on papyrus
    • English letters on paper
    • Hieroglyphs on a phone

  7. How was papyrus like our paper?

    • People could write on it
    • It grew along the Nile
    • It lasted forever

  8. Where did the plant for papyrus grow?

    • Along the Nile River
    • On mountain tops
    • In the desert sand

  9. In a museum, Mia sees an old, dry, crumbly sheet covered in rows of little pictures. It is not paper. What is she most likely looking at?

    • A letter written on paper
    • A painting on cloth
    • Hieroglyphs written on papyrus

  10. An old wall shows a bird, an eye, and a sun carved in a row. What was the Egyptian writer doing?

    • Counting animals on a farm
    • Writing sounds or words with pictures
    • Drawing a picture story for fun
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Hieroglyphs and Papyrus W1-mt_iFkd0CTwlA-s1

  1. False · Egyptians did not have paper. They wrote on papyrus, made from a Nile plant.
  2. True · Hieroglyphs are picture writing. Each picture stands for a sound or a word.
  3. Hieroglyphs · Little pictures in old Egyptian writing are hieroglyphs. Each one stands for a sound or a word.
  4. A scribe, a trained writer · The special writers who spent years learning hieroglyphs were called scribes.
  5. It stands for a sound or a word in the message · A hieroglyph picture is writing, not decoration. The eye stands for a sound or a word in the message.
  6. Hieroglyphs written on papyrus · Egyptians wrote hieroglyphs on papyrus, so that is what Mia should use.
  7. People could write on it · Papyrus was like paper because people could write on it. Growing by the Nile is true, but that is about where it came from.
  8. Along the Nile River · The papyrus plant grew along the banks of the Nile.
  9. Hieroglyphs written on papyrus · Old, crumbly, not paper, with picture writing on it. That is hieroglyphs on papyrus.
  10. Writing sounds or words with pictures · The carved pictures are hieroglyphs. The writer was writing sounds or words with pictures.
Worksheet · LightMySky