Great Wall of China Model

As mentioned in my post, How to Make a 3D Model of a Pyramid, my 2nd Grader is participating in a class project called "The Amazing Race".  Each student is supposed to "visit" five of the seven continents and do a "task" for each visit.  The 3D pyramid was for Africa.  My sons next continent was China and he decided to create a model of the Great Wall of China. 
So, off to the Internet I went to find ideas on how to make the Great Wall of China.  I found a great blog called, Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Her idea was awesome and fairly easy.  But, I had to make modifications to suit us and make it our own. 


I couldn't find Styrofoam blocks at my local stores, nor did I have time to order them online (we only had an afternoon to build it).  However, I did find a block of Styrofoam at Walmart.  It was about 2 inches x 12inches x 18 inches.  I had to cut this large block into small bricks.  I only used 3/4 of the block for this project 


I had never worked with Styrofoam so, I tapped away on my keyboard until I found a great website discussing the basics of working with Styrofoam.  They include a great informative video - STYROFOAM Tips.  From the video I learned how to cut Styrofoam, which glue I could use, and how to paint it too!

Supplies

• 1 foam poster board
• 1 block of Styrofoam, 2"x12"x18"- (you could use store bought Styrofoam blocks)
• hot glue gun
• acrylic paint (gray)
• stiff paint brush
• cardboard (we used a fruit snack box)
• scissors

Directions

1. Cut the Styrofoam block into small blocks/bricks with a plastic knife (run it through a candle first, to make cutting easier).
2. Using the hot glue gun, glue two parallel rows of Styrofoam blocks onto the foam poster board to create the base of the wall.  Make sure it is curved just like the real thing.  Be sure to include stairs at either end.
3. Add a second row of blocks on top of your base in a staggered pattern.  Repeat to make the wall as tall as you like.
4. Hot glue the cardboard on top to make a walking path.  Trim the cardboard with scissors to fit. 
5. Add another row of blocks along the edge of the path (cardboard).
6. Build a tower with the blocks in the middle of the wall.
7. Dip paint brush into paint and tap onto the the Styrofoam bricks, the cardboard path and around the base of the wall.
8. Use construction paper and a glue stick to create a mountain and some grass around your wall.

How to Make a 3D Model of a Pyramid

My 2nd Grader is participating in a class project at school called "The Amazing Race".  They have to do a project for five of the seven continents and whoever completes their project before a certain date will receive a prize.  My son decided to make a 3D model of a pyramid for Africa.  So, I hit the keyboard and found lots of different ideas for making a pyramid on Squidoo.  One stood out to us and we decided to make a similar one but make it our own with a few changes.

Supplies

• 8 dowel rods (found at Michael's Craft Store)
• hot glue gun
• pipe cleaners

Directions

1. Use the hot glue gun to glue 4 of the dowel rods into a square.
2. Glue the bottom of each remaining dowel rod to one corner of the square at an angle, so that the tops meet together above the center of the square.  (Tip - We used Play-doh to help keep all the rods in place until we were able to glue them.  This allowed us to make sure the angle was correct when we glued it.)
3. Glue the top of the 4 angled dowel rods together.
4. Wrap the sides and joints of the pyramid with pipe cleaners.
5. Print out or draw two pictures of a mummy or sarcophagus and glue them together, back to back.
6. Punch a hole in the top of the image and hang it inside the pyramid with a pipe cleaner.

I added 5 smaller dowel rods across the base of the pyramid because my son was worried someone might try to wear the pyramid as a hat but, this is not necessary for the structure.  We had so much fun my two younger children wanted to make structures of their own with the remaining supplies.