Monday, November 23, 2009

Pyramid Making

We have sand all over our dining room and have been hard at pyramid building for about 3 weeks now (and we're so glad that it's out of the house now and we can clean everything up)...
...it started with a lot of math...
...figuring squares and right angles and acute angles...
...and triangles that would be the perfect height...
...to come together...
...and form a perfect pyramid...
...then Scout spread glue over the pyramid...
...and wrapped it with yarn...
...because yarn should be part of every project - right...
...er...um...right...
...then he made some smaller polyhedrons for the 'wive's pyramids' - which he promptly covered with papier-mâché...
...now you can see what the yarn was for - yarn covered with papier-mâché looks just like rows of bricks - now you know...
...next, he painted everything the colour of sand...
...then he cut open one side of the pyramid - of course the inside of the pyramid has to be furnished...
...while waiting for Confirmation class at the Church to start - he gathered some grass and made some little Egyptian boats - you see every spare moment has been consumed by this project...
...next he painted all the pyramids with glue...

...that's a sticky job...
...and took them out to the garage where they got a sand shower - now we have sand all over the house...
...the mortuary temple needed a little more artwork before he was ready for his sand bath - columns had to be drawn on the interior...
...then we mixed up some salt dough and Scout carved out the interior of the pyramid - galleries, false tombs, true tombs, air shafts, escape shafts - it's all in there...
...he painted the Nile River on the base with some glue tinted with food colouring - this dries to a clearish watery looking river...
...he formed a salt dough sarcophagus and painted it gold...
...he painted the interior salt dough slab...
...added a box for the true burial chamber complete with heiroglyphics (they're visible in the grand gallery as well) - and hot glued in some supporting slabs...
...he labeled everything on the interior and popped it into place inside the pyramid...
...Scout labeled everything outside - and put the capstone in place...
...he is so proud of his finished project...
...he added several extra labels - things that weren't on the required list...
...and typed (have I mentioned how awesome it is that he can type!) a little note explaining how to open the pyramid - a super neat little trick - you lift the capstone and pull down the side...
...an aerial view...

11 comments:

  1. wow! over-the-top nice, i would say!! that actually looks like it would have been fun (except the sand-all-over-the-house thing). i hate to see what the senior high-school projects will be like!

    love, k

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's so great to see when a child is totally into his subject of study!

    ReplyDelete
  3. that is freakin' awesome!

    what a fun project!

    tell scout i think it rocks and his teacher better give him an A+++ !

    (and this is giving me some fun school ideas!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness. I am completely impressed. I'm going to have to show my hubby, he loves that sort of thing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:22 PM

    Very impressive. That's a beautifully done project and if it's for school he should definitely get a good grade for it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Really impressive! I remember having to make a Roman home replica for my Latin class; making little things for the inside was so addictive. I didn't have the ingenuity to make anything out of grasses though. You have one smart cookie! You must be very proud.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well done Scout!

    All of the effort and detail you put into this project is truly amazing. Owen has an interest in Egyptian mummies and I'll be sure to show him this :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. that is absolutely fabulous! well done!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing the steps involved.

    lisa

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow - what dedication to a task! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  11. WOw! That is quite a project with awesome results. Looks fantastic!!

    ReplyDelete