The Old Scroll Coloring Page

About this page

Professor Hoot unrolls a scroll so long it spills right across the scene, and with it comes one of the loveliest ideas in the whole book. Knowledge is old. People have been discovering things for a very long time, and we get to peek at what they left behind. For a young child, this reframes reading as time travel, a way to hear from clever people who lived long ago. That idea fits right into a library storytime. That endless curling paper is also a treat to color.

The research skill

The scroll Professor Hoot unrolls is covered in ancient pictures of pyramids and animals, which makes this page about primary sources: records made by people long ago, in their own time. Researchers study old documents, drawings, and objects to learn what life was like and what people knew back then. This fits Chapter 2's step of learning what others discovered before us. In school it appears in history lessons, museum visits, and later when students are asked to read an original document instead of a summary.

Try it at home

Find something old in your home that tells a story: a family photo, a letter, a recipe card in someone's handwriting, or a toy from a grandparent's childhood. Sit with your child and look closely, like historians. Ask three questions together: Who made this? When do you think it was made? What does it tell us about that time? If a relative is nearby or on the phone, let your child ask them to check the guesses. Talk about what the old object taught you that a book could not.

Talk about it while you color

• How long do you think that scroll really is? Longer than your bed? Longer than a bus?
• What do you imagine is written on the very oldest part of the scroll?
• If you wrote a message for kids far in the future, what would it say?