Greek and Roman Gods

Little Brother LOVES listening to Rick Riordan's books about Greek and Roman (and Egyptian) pantheons. I am personally not a fan of the books, but I can appreciate the thrall Little Brother has with ancient history and what he seems to be getting from the fictional stories based in factual history.

He spends many hours researching, reading, and thinking about the gods and the myths that go along with them. I think he enjoys organizing their hierarchical web as much as the stories themselves.

Today, I walk into the basement play room to find Mount Olympus on the table. The pics aren't great, due to the cheapy camera I have right now. I sure do miss the nice camera I had before it hit my coffee cup, the dirty dishwater, and the kitchen floor all in one fell swoop.

Mount Olympus and the Palace of Hades

Hades, God of Death and Despair!
Note the awesome skeletons and the River Phlegathon!

Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt

Dionysus the Wine God, Hermes the Messenger of the Gods,
 Athena Goddess of War and Wisdom, and Aphrodite Goddess of Love

Aries God of War, Poseidon God of the Seas, Zeus Lord of the Skies and
 Hera Goddess of Marriage, and Hestia Goddess of the Hearth 

Hephaestus God of Fire and his automatons 

Kronos Leader of the Titans

Atlas the Titan, holding up the world

I'll also mention this: I am not a stickler for only buying educational toys. Toys are toys and are meant to be played with. But there are a few things that I established early on with my kids. They can have only one kind of toy with LOTS OF PARTS for free play. They chose (wisely) Legos. They can do what ever they want with Legos and go crazy. But I decided that in order to have Playmobil toys (with lots of parts!!!) they could only collect historical themed sets. We always find them on super clearance for a fraction of the original cost. This has paid of immensely, as the kids will often drag out the Playmobil sets and figures to recreate what they are learning in history. This has become a fun game to them over the years.