Ancient Babylon for Kids – 6 Fun & Easy Resources for Teaching

I was prepping to teach Ancient Babylon to my homeschool co-op class of lower elementary age kids when I quickly discovered there are not many kid-friendly resources out there for this incredible time period of history!  After looking in vain for elementary resources to teach about Ancient Babylon, I decided to create my own.

6 Resources to teach Ancient Babylon to kids

• Ancient Mesopotamia & Babylon PowerPoint
• Ancient Babylon Graphic Organizer
• Build Your Own Ishtar Gate
• Cut & Paste Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue Activity
• Knock It Down Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue Game
• Songs about Ancient Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar

1. Slide Show PowerPoint of Ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia

This editable slide show is simple but engaging for elementary students!  I used bright, fun graphics and simple language to boil thousands of years of history into just 19 slides!  Whew!  That’s a task. 

The PowerPoint starts with ancient Mesopotamia and mentions some of the early Babylonian history like cuneiform, the Euphrates River, and Hammurabi with his famous code of laws.  It briefly mentions the Assyrian Empire but then pivots to focus mainly on the later Babylonian empire.  Historians call this time period the Neo-Babylonian era, but for elementary age children, I just kept it pretty simple.

The slides show the Ishtar Gate, King Nebuchadnezzar, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  Additionally, it touches on some of Babylon’s greatest contributions to the world such as their art, advanced math, and astronomy that still influences us today.

Finally, it wraps up with King Cyrus the Great of Persia defeating the Babylonians and a tiny bit about the Persians.

Designed for kids, this PowerPoint is a simple, quick overview and an excellent introduction to the Babylonian Empire.

Plus, since we are Bible-believing Christians, I added in the tie-ins to the Bible along the way.  And there are many!  The Bible is an amazing history book and has many references to both the Assyrian and Babylonian empires starting way back with the Tower of Babel. (Yep, there’s a slide on that, too!)

2. Ancient Babylon Graphic Organizer

Just listening to a PowerPoint can be boring, right?  So, I gave students a copy of an Ancient Babylon Graphic Organizer to help them stay engaged during the presentation.

Why use a graphic organizer?  It’s a great way to pull together all the different concepts for a child and help them connect the dots so the information makes sense.

On this Ancient Babylon thinking map, I put small graphics that matched the pictures used in the PowerPoint.  Instead of going through the slides in order, I asked the kids to pick a picture on the graphic organizer and we jumped to the corresponding slide to learn more!

Every time we discussed a slide, they colored in the picture to match.  It kept them engaged in the topic while we were learning.  Plus, they liked being in control of what picture we would learn about next. Did I mention that it’s free! Grab a copy!

3. Build the Ishtar Gate

Next up, I wanted to get the kids up and moving! So, we decided to build the Ishtar Gate!  I was trying to think of a way to make Babylon memorable to early elementary learners and thought painting and building might be the way to go.

First, I printed out these printables.

In class, we used a yellow crayon to color the bulls and dragons on the gate – representing gold, of course.  We also added a few more winged bulls just for fun.

Next, we used blue watercolors to paint over the entire Ishtar Gate.  Since wax repels water, the yellow crayons repelled the blue paint beautifully!  It was lots of fun!

After it dried, we glued it onto the side of a handy-dandy Amazon box to make it stand up like a real gate.

Finally, we added a paved road to represent the Procession Street that went through the Ishtar Gate.  This was the main gate into Babylon and everyone – including King Nebuchadnezzar and the captives like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have marched through it into the city.  It began at the gate and ended at the giant Ziggurat temple of Marduk.

Once a year, Babylon had a huge New Year’s festival to honor their gods Marduk and Ishtar.  The parade went right down this grand street, too.  The stones were paved in red and yellow with inscriptions on them to their gods.  The Babylonians would parade statues of their deities down the avenue to celebrate the new year.

We just had fun making the gate!  Plus, I added adorable little Babylonian people so students could march them inside the gate.

4. King Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue Cut & Paste Activity

Finally, I wanted to focus on King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue.  Why?  Because this amazing dream, recorded for us in scripture in Daniel 2, foretold the future of the next several major empires. 

And these empires are precisely the empires we will be studying over the coming weeks! 

• The gold head represented Babylon
• The silver shoulders represented Persia
• The bronze hips represented Greece
• The legs of iron represented Rome
• The mixed iron and clay represent the division and fall of Rome

I was delighted to find a really great craft of Nebuchadnezzar already created.  It’s a cute but simple cut and paste activity to recreate Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.  Just right for lower elementary kids.

5. King Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue Knock-Down Game

As we learn about the amazing accomplishments and feats of ancient empires like Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, it is important to teach children that kingdoms come and kingdoms go, but God reigns forever!

>>> More Resources for Ancient Civilizations:

• Best Books on Ancient Egypt for Kids
• Best Books on Ancient Greece for Kids
• Best Books on Ancient Rome for Kids

This simple Nebuchadnezzar Knock Down the Statue activity is an exciting hands-on way to review the Bible story from Daniel 2 or facts about the Babylonian Empire!

You just print the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar on cardstock, roll him up like a paper towel tube, then tape the sides together to stand it up.

Next, grab some aluminum foil and wad it up into a ball to represent the rock. 

As you ask individual kids review questions from the content taught, let them each take a turn rolling the rock and trying to knock down the statue!  Fun!

“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” – Daniel 2:44

6. Songs About Ancient Babylon

Since the Bible is such an incredible history book, it mentions the empire of Ancient Babylon frequently. And, of course, King Nebuchadnezzar features prominently in the book of Daniel and is mentioned elsewhere as well. So, you can also use these Bible songs about King Nebuchadnezzar to teach about Ancient Babylon, too. Singing with kids is an interactive way to get the content to stick in their minds!

So long, Ancient Babylon!

Learning about Ancient Babylon with early elementary learners was a really fun adventure!  I know they may not remember all the details, but I hope they got a good overview of Babylon and will remember the fun of building the Ishtar Gate and God’s amazing prophecy of the kingdoms to come.