For as long as I can remember, my brood have always had an attraction to Egyptian culture. They built a huge pyramid in the garage, begged for all the Lego sets in the Adventurer: Egyptian series and wore out so many books about the topic that I gave up on trying to repair them. Even though they are way too old for these, they are really nice stencil designs that younger kids can make use of. I would love to see Dover make these in a plastic version instead of card stock but I can see why they make them this way. It keeps the cost down, lets kids have some fun with them and sucks parents into buying more of them because there are tons of companion titles to choose from at the site. Annabelle emulates everything that the boys do; most of the time that isn't a bad thing. She started getting interested in some of the Egyptian Playmobil figures like Cleopatra so I figured that these stencil books might be a nice introduction to some of the more common Egyptian symbols.

Fun With Egyptian Symbols Stencils

What symbols are included in this book? Well, if you are new to learning about the symbols of the Egyptian culture you might not know that most of them are associated with gods, kings and sacred animals. Animals play a huge part in the Egyptian culture and one of the most common is the scarab beetle. The design of it is simple but if you use different colors with it, you can give it a really nice look. Renenutet [or Ernutet depending on the translation] is usually depicted as a fire breathing snake / serpent / cobra goddess but she also is the symbol of protection. An odd tie in to Neopets here, she is loosely associated with Wadjet, another female snake goddess. Hers is the most detailed stencil in the book and therefore one of the harder ones to complete with accuracy.

One symbol that is almost universally known is The Eye of Horus. Again, this is a simplified version of the symbol but something that you can do a lot with if you ad layers of color to it. A bit of trivia for you, there are six parts to The Eye of Horus symbol, do you know what they represent? One of the more confusing stencils is that of Amun; his is not the human form of Amun but rather the animal symbol associated with him. I would have rather seen the sphinx version of Amun but hey, I just write the reviews. Two stencils that do work well together are Horus and Nekhbet. Both have strong ties to vultures and larger birds in Egyptian history and if you want to do a pattern or design honoring them, the two in this book are nicely done. All of the stencils and symbols in this book can easily be combined by placing them tip to toe [next to each other]. The size / scale of them are almost all identical and you can also use them with the "Fun With Egyptian Stencils" book, another great Dover title!

The stencils are cut from card stock so they aren't exactly the strongest thing for kids to work with but if they are careful when tracing out the designs they can get a lot of use from them. My best suggestion is to have them use a pencil to trace the design on to paper then color it with crayons or markers. Annabelle was really fascinated with the scarab and made a ton of them, then she started getting creative and adding sparkles, glitter and using metallic markers on them. If I would have known that she would have this much fun with a $1.50 stencil book, I would have ordered them a long time ago.

I ordered this book and the "Fun With Egyptian Stencils" book at the same time; the stencils are comparable but there are no duplicates. If you are doing a craft project or anything in regards to a school project getting both books at the same time can be a real help. Both of them are priced at $1.50 at the Dover online store and that's a price you just can't beat unless you get into the laser cut stencils or larger teacher edition books that are extremely hard to find. These can be used to teach kids about the symbols of the Egyptian culture or as part of a fun project such as making a cartouche or some of the more common symbols and methods of communication and documentation that were used.

The Bottom Line

There is only one more book in the series that I am waiting on; its been back ordered for a while but I did get an email saying that it should ship by the end of the month. My grand plan is to use all the stencils to make a border on some black lacquer bookshelves that Tommy painted for me. The stencils might not last all that long when the paint comes in contact with them but I am hoping to get at least three or four impressions from them before they totally give out. For kids who are into drawing, coloring or making unique things, this is a great book that can introduce them to some of the symbols of Egyptian culture. On a personal note I would like to add that these books are incredible for jump starting a child's imagination. One small scarab stencil sparked Annabelle's curiosity and she started reading about them, why they were revered by the Egyptians and how they are used as symbols for different things. For homeschoolers and mainstream students these can be used for projects about the Egyptian culture and as a stepping stone to learning more about the people, culture and lore associated with them.


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2008 Freak369


Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How To Read And Write Them
Egyptology: Search For The Tomb of Osiris
The New Book of Pharaohs - The Egyptian Cinderella

Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books
"Pyramid", "Ancient Egypt", "Mummy"

The Mummy
The Gods And Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
Eqyptian Designs Stained Glass Coloring Book
Arabic Designs Stained Glass Coloring Book
King Tut Coloring Book - Egyptian Coloring Book
"Tomb of Kings" 100 Piece Floor Puzzle

LEGO SETS
Egyptian Mummy - Oasis Ambush - Sphinx Secret Surprise
Scorpion Tracker - Curse of the Pharaoh - Secret of The Tomb


The Eye of Horus symbol is made up of six parts, these are typically regarded as symbols associated with the senses. There are many other numeric associations with The Eye of Horus and six sided or divided elements in Egyptian lore.


Recommended: Yes