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How to Create an Ancient Egyptian Artifact Using Paper Mache

Ancient Egyptian culture is a vast and fascinating topic covered many times during a child's school career. Whether it is to complete a project or just to foster a growing curiosity, Egypt provides plenty of inspiration to compete any project. A classic paper mache project is to create a paper mummy. During this process, you can teach the child how and why the Egyptians mummified their Pharaohs. Paper mache can be messy, so set up an area for the child to work.

Things You'll Need

  • Newspaper
  • Masking tape
  • Bowl
  • Flour
  • Water
  • Paint
  • Paint brush
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Instructions

    • 1

      Make a mummy body by crushing sheets of newspaper into balls and shapes. Make a head, two arms that are folded over the chest, a trunk and two legs with toes pointed straight up. Place these on the work surface, and make sure they are all proportionate to one another.

    • 2

      Wrap the newspaper form with masking tape to keep its shape. You can also add details --- such as a nose and mouth --- to the face that will show after covering with the paper mache.

    • 3

      Tear more newspaper into strips. You can either just paper the top of the mummy or paper all the way around, but you can only do one side at a time so it can dry. Tear the strips into the size needed for the size mummy you are papering.

    • 4

      Mix the paste in a bowl by adding 1 cup of flour to 2 cups of water. Mix and adjust the mixture if it is too thick or too runny for you.

    • 5

      Dip one strip into the mixture and pull the strip between two fingers to remove the excess paste.

    • 6

      Apply the strip to the mummy form. Continue papering the mummy until one side is done and let dry.

    • 7

      Repeat the process to paper each side of the mummy, allowing each layer to dry completely.

    • 8

      Paint the paper to resemble a sarcophagus or paint the mummy white and rub with dirt to make it look old.

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