Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
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We love history in our home and always enjoy finding new ways to make history come to life and be more hands-on. When the opportunity to review Famous Figures of Ancient Times from Figures In Motion, I was happy to give it a try.
As I looked over the Figures In Motion website, I was excited to see that the Famous Figures of Ancient Times coordinated with Story of the World. We are currently using Story of the World, and so I was glad to be able to add the famous figures to our current history routine.
How it Works
My daughter, seventh-grade, and my son, first-grade, are currently going through ancient history together. I had them work together to complete the Famous Figures of Ancient Times. The book focused on 21 historical figures from ancient history.
For each figure, there were two different paper dolls that could be cut out and put together, the first was full color, and the other was an outline that the students could color themselves.
Once the components were cut out, the student put the dolls together using a hole-punch and metal brads. The hole punch and brads could be purchased from Figures In Motion if you do not have any.
Since the dolls were put together, they were articulated (the legs and arms could move). This made them great fun for my first grader to play with and turn into puppets.
Creative Ideas
My son always wants to create puppets and make up stories to go along with them. With these, he could make the puppets and then use them to retell what he learned in his history lesson for the week.
You could also put them onto popsicle sticks if you wanted a puppet that you could maneuver in that way.
In addition to the paper figures, there were a couple of paragraphs of historical information about each person included in the book. There was also a suggested reading list of read-aloud books to cover those figures.
This would be a great way to expand on what you were learning or to make the book stand a bit more on its own and not as supplementary material.
Thoughts and Conclusions
Overall, we enjoyed these figures, and my son will continue to use them as we finish up our year in history. My daughter thought they were cute but a little too ‘young’ for her.
I think they would be great for elementary-age students, especially those who love puppets. Some middle school students may also enjoy them or enjoy creating with them.
We would not use this as a stand-alone history, but it paired very well with Story of the World as a low prep hands-on activity. The author also mentions that it aligns well with Sonlight Curriculum, Classical Conversations, and Mystery of History.
If you want to add a little hands-on learning to your history or have a child that loves puppets, check out Famous Figures of Ancient Times or one of the other books by Figures In Motion that covers a different time period. You can also find them on Amazon.
Also, be sure to click on the graphic below and see what the other Crew families thought about this product and which era in history they were covering.
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