Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide (Cultures of the Ancient World)

I debated about whether to buy this book for a Christian homeschooling unit on ancient Israel. It is one of the only in-print books that talks about the Philistines and Phoenicians, so it is worth the purchase for just that.However, I did not appreciate most of the activities in this book, and it is nowhere near as fun as the Ancient Egyptians book from the same author. The text is much harder to read... upper elementary at least. The photos are black and white and the activity boxes are smaller and not as lively. The font is rather small too. It's informative with more pages of solid reading.More importantly, the activities are not as numerous or as neat. Probably because information on the Philistines and Phoenicians is not nearly as plentiful as Eygptians or Mesopotamians. There were few activities, really, and some of them were stretching it a little. Writing on a smashed pot to copy Israelites writing on broken clay? Tying a headscarf around your head as a distinctive activity for Phoenicians? Designing a Greek hearth room for the Philistines? I don't know. I guess I just had higher expectations.The main value of this book is the reference material. Again, it is one of the only books out there with vital information about these biblical cultures. It is great as a reference resource. Includes a lot of photos of real artifacts. But it is not a little kid-friendly activity book. I wouldn't recommend it for kids under third grade, and maybe fifth grade ideally.

Earlier this year, I read the book "The Great Sea" by David Abulafia The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean . It was very useful for getting a feel for the human history of the Mediterranean.This book focused on the Philistines, Phoenicians, and Israelites and offered projects to look at the technology, building styles, trade goods, and interactions among these three groups.Great projects -- very doable by kids with NORMAL MATERIALS -- clay, shoe boxes, milk jugs, paper, string. Handy to have some leather cord.We did a number of these projects while we studied Ancient Israel.

Great book with fun activities for both kids and parents. My daughter truly enjoyed it!

Good resource

As described.

The item was as described. The price was great. It arrived shortly. A very good ancient Israelites resource.

What a pleasant surprise! This book could be used for religious OR public school. It not only gives insights as to how people lived in ancient times, but helps students recreate aspects of it so that they can relate it to their lives of today. The book explains how life was, and then allows students to create food, clothing and housing models so that they can see how those ancient cultures influenced our culture today.

I have found this book to be informative and useful. It is written from a "non-religious" perspective. The content information is more suitable for upper elementary (complex sentences and higher vocabulary), but the pictures and activities would interest those in the lower grades. We have not yet done any of the activities, but I've been impressed as I read through them. Most of them are practical, easy, and seem worth the time to do.

excellent book