The newest, just-opened Young V&A exhibition is all about creativity in ancient Egypt. And like everything in the award-winning East London museum, it’s created specially for children and families.
More than 200 fascinating objects are on display in Making Egypt, taking young visitors on a journey through the ancient past to modern day, and exploring how stories and images from Egypt continue to influence art, design and popular culture to this day.
Ancient items — some up to 5,500 years old — are shown alongside contemporary objects such as comics, games and films. These include Minecraft, LEGO and 1999’s The Mummy movie.
Yet the biggest draw for ancient Egypt lovers — of all ages — will be the stunningly preserved 3,000-year-old, 2m-tall coffin of an Egyptian princess thought to be worth millions of dollars.
Other ancient artefacts you can get up close to — many actually on display for the very first time — include decorative funerary masks and linen shrouds dating back over 2,000 years.
There’s also many modern-day responses to the historical story, created by jewellery and fashion designers, graphic novelists, ceramic artists and more. These spotlight how ancient Egypt continues to inspire makers thousands of years later.
Making Egypt’s curator Benjamin Hinson promises young visitors “fresh insights into the creative practices of one of the longest-lasting civilisations in the world.” The Young V&A’s Director Dr Helen Charman said it will “provoke curiosity and fire the imagination.”
What’s on display in the Making Egypt exhibition?
The exhibition will be divided into three sections — Storytelling, Communicating and Making. Each explored Egyptian creativity through a different lens.
Visitors will journey from sunrise to sunset along the Nile, encountering the landscapes, stories and people that inspired ancient Egypt’s creative language, with playful illustrations of famous gods guiding the way.
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In the opening section — Storytelling — young visitors will be introduced to some of Egypt’s major myths, and their key storytelling ingredients. This includes how religious beliefs and the natural world were often brought together. Highlight objects will include a 4,000-year-old small wooden model funerary boat, and an amulet of the protective Goddess of childbirth and fertility Taweret. This goddess takes its form from three creatures which roamed the Nile’s surrounding landscapes: a hippopotamus, a crocodile and lion.
Storytelling will finish by looking at how comics, movies and pop culture have re-cast Egypt’s ancient gods into modern icons, from action-adventure film The Mummy (1999) starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, to collectible Yu-gi-oh cards. Comic fans will also see Marvel's Moon Knight and DC Comics’ Doctor Fate and Black Adam.
The exhibition’s second section Communicating will spotlight how the stories Egyptians told were communicated through written hieroglyphics and visuals. Visitors will have the chance to see the tools used to illustrate Egypt's visual language, including a surviving plasterer’s trowel (used to create a smooth surface for tomb paintings) and a pigment grinder (used to create vibrant colours for paints and inks).
You’ll be able to get involved in this section too, with hands-on activities inviting young visitors to test their own skills of drawing, deciphering hieroglyphics and exploring the meanings of colours.
This section will also explore the role of writing and drawing in connection to the afterlife, and will feature the show’s most stunning display — a magnificent fully painted 2-metre tall coffin of royal Princess Sopdet-em-haawt. The coffin — or sarcophagus — has spent the last six years on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and has not been shown in a UK museum before.
The exhibition’s final section asks why objects were made, what they were made of, and how they were made. Multiple ancient figurines which were buried alongside the Pharaoh Djedhor will be shown. Making will also look at ancient's Egypt's mass production (yes, it's not just a modern issue), particularly of amulets, rings and small figurines. Here there’ll be examples you can actually touch, and activities to encourage young visitors to design their own items.
And finally, bringing the story right up to the present day, there’ll be a LEGO model of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and self-made video tutorials — shown on huge screens at the end — on how to create your own ancient Egyptian world in the video game Minecraft.
Making Egypt exhibition reviews
Reviews of the Young V&A's show have been positive.
The exhibition was awarded four-stars by the Telegraph newspaper. Chief Art Critic Alastair Sooke says "there’s plenty to keep young visitors occupied." He praised the show saying that "making history palatable for schoolchildren isn’t easy — but all the work that’s gone into this imaginative, effective show pays off."
It was a view shared by Tom Whipple in the Times. He says that the show features "a lot of what you would expect — scarabs and stelae, gods and goddesses" but that he was particularly moved by how the items on display emphasize the humans that made them. "I see not an object but the person behind it. I think not of sun gods but of stonemasons." He too gave the exhibition four stars.
Whipple also took his young children to see it. He said they enjoyed the interactive exhibits, and "spend as much time as primary schoolers could be hoped to with ancient artefacts."
How much are Making Egypt tickets?
Tickets for Making Egypt cost £10. Note under 3s get in free.
A big bonus is that unlike most other museums, a ticket to this show is actually an annual pass, so you'll be able to go back and visit as many times as you like. As it’s on for 8 months, that’s lots of opportunities to visit — especially during those long summer school holidays!
And if this has got you excited for a visit, get your kids excited too by grabbing them the best ancient Egypt books for children, as recommended by the exhibition's assistant curator Trish Roberts. It's not homework when it's this fun!
Making Egypt runs at the Young V&A until 02 November 2025
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