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I am an herbalist, wife, mom and self professed foodie, who spends her days juggling frogs and her nights wrestling alligators

Friday, October 14, 2011

Papier Mache Pyramid

Happy Fall Everyone!

I want to apologize for going so long in between posts. I had every intention of posting at the end of September, but it was an extremely busy month for me (as it is for many of you I am sure). Getting back into the groove of things has been quite the challenge after our third child and we are slowly but surely finding our new rhythm.

My oldest daughter has recently began studying History, through lectures, photos and Art from Scott Powell's History at our House course. So far she is really enjoying the lectures and is captivated by the stories, it certainly helps that Mr Powell is great at explaining concepts (like B.C and A.D) in ways that children can understand. He starts out explaining why we study history and proceeds from there. It's challenging her thinking and certainly making her more creative.


              As you can see she is sneaking her new knowledge into other areas of study as well!

                                         
                                            Clever my dear, but wrong answer!


I would LOVE to do a comprehensive review of History at our House at a later date, however today I wanted to share a Papier Mache Pyramid project that our family made. Victoria has began studying Ancient Egypt and is enthralled. She came up to me one day and asked if she could make a pyramid of her own. I was a bit reluctant at first but we went out and bought some Elmer's Adhesive spray and a bag of sand and got started.

We got out an old fan box and decided on a 5 inch square for our base. I did the cutting, and my daughter measured and made the marks for the sides.




                           After they were cut and folded on the lines, we taped them in place.



                                              And our pyramid began to take shape!


After this we made our Papier Mache mix. Nothing fancy here! Just flour and water, enough to make a pancake batter consistency.  We used computer paper, and did two layers, allowing it time to dry in between. We then put it in the oven with the door open at 200 degrees, checking frequently until dry.  DON'T skip this step, otherwise there is a good chance that you might end up with mold growing between the layers later down the road.

                       

                   Next up-the sand, which took quite a bit of patience on everyone's part.




I'm really not sure how many layers it took, but we sprayed the pyramid, added sand and then allowed it to dry before we came back and repeated the process..over..and over..and over..again. Eventually we ended up with this:



The girls are very pleased with it, but if you have a better way we are certainly open to other options (especially me).  What is your family working on this Fall?

Warmly, Lara

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I say brown colored pencils and just draw some blocks on it, lol. But, I guess that is not as fun as sand eh?

Lara said...

haha, cute! It would certainly be less messy :P

The Adventurer said...

Great idea we are working on Eygpt and I will have to give this a try:)
Found you on Secular home schooling. Now following, please follow back http://lifesadventures-amb.blogspot.com/
Thanks

Lara said...

Absolutely, looking forward to your next adventure! Have a great weekend :)

Sharone Powell said...

Dear Lara,

It's Mrs. Powell here and I absolutely loved your blog! I always wish I had the time and patience to do projects like this with Patrick Henry, now 5, but my writing takes preference and he does many projects in Montessori (nothing as cool as your pyramid, though!) Perhaps some day...
I hope you won't mind if I share your post on our HaoH Facebook page. Thanks for the fun read and have a great weekend!
Sharone.

Lara said...

Sharone,

I don't mind at all! We're having so much fun with the course, I'm glad that I was able to share. Thank you so much for your lovely comments :)

Warmly, Lara