The Sphinx Model

This last term, Brad's class (grade 3) learnt about different structures of the world. They were assigned a project to either build a diorama or make a poster of a structure of their choice, and parents were totally allowed to help if they wanted to. Brad chose the Sphinx.

I have to admit, he educated me on it; rambling off little facts from his research during class time. It was pretty cool.

Together, he and Dustin built a model out of Styrofoam, and Brad spray painted it gold. Then he and I stapled fabric to the outside of a box, and Dustin screwed the model to it.
Brad and I decided that it needed sand to be complete, so Dad dug into our sump-pit and hauled out some fine wet silt (yes, for real! The ground was covered in snow when we did this - no available sand anywhere else!). It took a few days to dry out, but after that, Brad and I smeared glue over the whole project and sprinkled sand all over it.
Ta-Dah! One sandy structure from Egypt.

Oh, and he got top marks on it! Dustin and I were a little worried that we had helped too much until we went and saw some of the other projects! Some looked completely age appropriate and it was easy to guess those kids did not have adult help, while others looked similar to ours -and clearly Mom and Dad had been in on the fun! (The Golden Gate Bridge for example was made from popsicle sticks and toothpicks!! No grade 3 I know did that by themself!)

Anyway, we all had fun with this project ...