How to Make a Model of King Tut's Tomb for a School Project

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Things You'll Need

  • Cardboard box

  • Black, white and gold paints

  • Large paintbrush

  • Newspaper

  • Scissors

  • Masking tape

  • Tiny inexpensive plastic treasures, trinkets, toy animals and play jewelry

  • Assorted-sized paintbrushes

  • Glue (optional)

Tuthankamen became king at age 9.

Rich history and priceless treasures lay buried beneath the sand for more than 3,000 years until November 26, 1922, when archaeologist and author Howard Carter discovered King Tut's tomb. In his book, "The Tomb of Tutankhamen," Carter describes the first glimpse by candlelight inside the young pharaoh's burial shrine, "...as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold — everywhere the glint of gold…I was struck dumb with amazement..." Assist a young child in recreating an exciting model of this historical tomb for a school project fit to impress his teacher and classmates alike.

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Step 1

Tear or cut the flaps from a medium-sized cardboard box.

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Step 2

Paint the entire inside and outside of the flapless box with black paint using a large paintbrush for quick work.

Step 3

Jean Francois Champollion cracked the Egytian hieroglyphic code in 1822.

Stand the box on one end with the opening facing forward like a large doorway. Paint hieroglyphics and/or pictographs on the inside walls in white paint with a small brush. Use a simple translation website, like National Geographic's "Hieroglyphs Translator," for accuracy. For fun, make up your own code of hieroglyphics and give the secret key to the class in order to solve it.

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Step 4

Lay two stacked sheets of newspaper on the floor and roll the pages into a cone shape.

Step 5

Bunch-up another piece of newspaper into a ball shape, and stuff it partly into the wide end of the cone.

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Step 6

Snip just enough of the narrow end off the cone to create a straight edge.

Step 7

Bend the small end of the newspaper cone and fold to create feet. This is your Pharaoh "mummy."

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Step 8

Wrap the whole mummy in masking tape.

Step 9

Paint the mummy with gold paint. Add details, such as a face, crossed arms, royal kilt (or Shendyt) and majestic headdress (called a Nemes), with a small brush and black paint.

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Step 10

Place the Pharaoh inside the cardboard tomb.

Step 11

Paint the toy trinkets, animals and gems with gold paint to make them look like priceless objects, valuable statutes and King Tut's personal possessions.

Step 12

Arrange the golden-colored riches generously around Tutankhamen's tomb. Glue the items in place to secure them, if you prefer.

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