Doing a King Tut model project in conjunction with an art or history lesson gives you several advantages in the classroom. It allows kids who learn best by doing activities the chance to become fully involved in the process. It also makes ancient Egypt come alive for middle and high school students, because the king was about their age when he died. However, a model project about King Tut needn't be limited to just this age group. With some adjustments you can use this type of class activity for a variety of age groups.
Both old and new media exists that will help you prepare your lesson about King Tut. These include interactive media, animation, the graphic novel and photos. Media such as these not only provide background information for you and your students to use during the model project, but they also shed light on how art, animation and other hands on techniques can be used to help give people a better understanding of history. For example, a group of artists have recreated King Tut's face using both animation and clay, giving people a glimpse of how the king might have looked. Talk about these possibilities as you work on the project with your students and ask them to make connections about how to apply what they've learned about using different media to create Tut's likeness.
To give your students a look at Egyptian life in three-dimensional space, take them on field trips to local museums that have exhibits on ancient Egypt. Ask them to bring along their sketch books to record their discoveries or to make dioramas of the tombs at home. This gives them first-hand access to artifacts such as tombs and tomb art, which will inform their choices later on as they make their King Tut model.
There are a variety of materials your students can use to make their model of King Tut for their school project, depending upon their age and the limitations of your classroom. Some inexpensive and user-friendly materials include papier mache and clay. Older and more advanced students can try carving a model of Tut from wood or pouring a mold for a small statue. When creating more advanced projects, students should make preparatory drawings of the boy king, whereas younger students might write a short piece about their research and explain how they created the model of King Tut from the materials they used.