General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 19 Mar 2024/2 Death
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Article suitable for older students

WE RECOMMEND
Seriously exciting!
Seriously exciting!
Yrs 5/6 will love it. Well researched and written. We didn’t want to put it down...! By Johnny Pearce & A. Loneragan (2019)
An artefact based school workshop on ancient Mexico by Mexicolore

TEACHING RESOURCES on the ancient Maya

We’ve made a start (Autumn 2014) in gathering together some carefully researched and recommended teaching resources on the (ancient) Maya. We’ll be adding to this section over the coming weeks, so do keep coming back to check. And don’t forget our extensive Maya Links page (main menu)... (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Some books on the Maya we recommend for teachers and kids...
Some books on the Maya we recommend for teachers and kids... (Click on image to enlarge)

BOOKS - see also STORIES, below...
Maya Designs by Wilson G. Turner, Dover Publications, New York, 1980; one of Dover’s best! Large, copyright-free line drawings that can be coloured in PLUS valuable info about each image
Popol Vuh: A Sacred Book of the Maya retold by Victor Montejo, and (beautifully) illustrated by Luis Garay, Groundwood Books, Canada, 1999; by far the best edition to buy, suitable for top Juniors
Amazing Maya Inventions you can build yourself by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt, Nomad Press, White River Junction, 2006; very useful general resource, full of well illustrated craft and activity ideas of all kinds...

MAGAZINES
• Look out for Primary History special issue no. 68 on the Maya (Autumn 2014), Historical Association, London.

Mexicolore’s Chocolate artefacts pack, purchasable for £50
Mexicolore’s Chocolate artefacts pack, purchasable for £50 (Click on image to enlarge)

ARTEFACTS
• Traditional wooden chocolate whisk (molinillo): good ones on amazon.co.uk for around £12; cacao beans are easy to buy online, pods are much harder to find (we’re working on this...)
• Quetzales (Guatemalan currency today, featuring the endangered quetzal rainforest bird, sacred to the Maya): coins and (better) notes available very cheaply online from ebay
• Artefacts boxes on Maya culture available on loan: try either Leeds Development Education Centre or the Maya Guatemalan Indian Centre (London); this second option is available via Mexicolore. Mexicolore also offer artefacts packs on the theme of Chocolate for sale (for more info see link below...)

A glimpse inside the excellent Casa K’Inich Teachers Guidebook
A glimpse inside the excellent Casa K’Inich Teachers Guidebook (Click on image to enlarge)

TEACHING/ACTIVITY PACKS
Introducing the Ancient Maya to the Classroom: Classroom Activities Packet by Diane Davies - available from her website, below
Mysteries of the Maya Calendar Museum*: A Guide for Teachers & Librarians by Ben Leeming - available on request for free from Mexicolore
Casa K’inich: A Teacher’s Guidebook by Catherine Docter with Dorie Reents Budet - downloadable from the FAMSI website, under Resources – For Teachers, below
The Art of the Ancient Maya: Children’s Guide by Carla Brenner (in support of past major exhibition ‘Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya’ at the National Gallery of Art, Washington) - downloadable from the link below.

Remember there are also some cracking old fashioned adventure stories to be found surrounding the discovery of ancient Maya cities in the jungle, such as British explorer Alfred Maudslay at Palenque
Remember there are also some cracking old fashioned adventure stories to be found surrounding the discovery of ancient Maya cities in the jungle, such as British explorer Alfred Maudslay at Palenque (Click on image to enlarge)

STORIES (Apart from those in the Popol Vuh itself)
Mysteries of the Maya Calendar Museum (and forthcoming sequel Grandma’s Magic Map) by Laanna Carrasco and Davíd Carrasco; finely illustrated by Marlo Garnsworthy, Cruce de Caminos, 2012; an ingeniously told adventure story for kids, woven together with top rate information (Professor Carrasco is on our Panel of Experts) - supported superbly by the Teachers’ Guide* (above)
Rain Player written and illustrated by David Wisniewski, Clarion Books, New York 1991; a young ballplayer has to challenge the Rain God to decide his people’s fate - superbly illustrated and surprisingly informative
The Chocolate Tree by Linda Lowery and Richard Keep, illustrated by Janice Lee Porter, Millbrook Press, 2009; simple story for young children, beautifully illustrated
The Exciting Adventures of the Hero Twins (Powerpoint cartoon), downloadable from link below; nicely presented and accessible re-telling of the ‘fun’ part of the Popol Vuh.
Mario’s Mayan Journey by Michelle McCunney, Mondo Publishing, 1997; very simple story for children of life in the Maya rainforest.

Step-by-step instructions for making Maya calendar wheels are included in ‘Primary History’ issue no. 68 (autumn 2014); illustration by Paul Johnson
Step-by-step instructions for making Maya calendar wheels are included in ‘Primary History’ issue no. 68 (autumn 2014); illustration by Paul Johnson (Click on image to enlarge)

PLACES TO VISIT
The British Museum, with its wonderful if small Mexico Gallery (Room 27), housing exceptionally beautiful late Classic Maya lintels from Yaxchilan is an obvious first port of call. But there are other regional resources too. Follow the link below to one example: Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.

WEB RESOURCES
See our Maya Links page (top left main menu). Below we’ve added some specific ones not included on our Maya Links Page...

Picture sources:-
All by Ian and Phillip Mursell/Mexicolore except for:-
• b/w photo of Maudslay standing in the ruins at Palenque, available from British Museum website, here (search for ‘Maudslay Palenque standing ruins’ -http://www.britishmuseum.org/research.aspx
• Illustration of the intermeshing of 260- and 360-day calendar wheels courtesy and © Paul Johnson / Crab Nebula image - NASA, ESA.

This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Jul 30th 2014

Cocoa beans: examples of their value as ‘currency’ in ancient Mesoamerica

For today’s date in the Maya (Long Count) calendar (and Aztec date too...)

PLACES TO VISIT: Bristol City Museum

Have fun learning about - and drawing - a Maya rabbit scribe...

Maya numbers: Maya Glyphs Book 2 by Mark Pitts, downloadable from the FAMSI website
The ritual ballgame: the one and only...
The 20 Maya day signs
‘Primary History’ magazine
‘Lesson Plan: An Inspiring Scene - Vase with Palace Scene’, Denver Art Museum
For the Casa K’inich Teacher’s Guidebook, click on Resources: For Teachers: Teacher’s Guide
Download the Art of the Ancient Maya: Children’s Guide...
For The Exciting Adventures of the Hero Twins (Powerpoint)
Links/resources from the xhibition on the Maya ‘The revelation of an endless time’ in Liverpool
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