Sugar Cube Pyramids


We made our Sugar Cube Pyramids last week while we were waiting for our doll mummies to dry. It was interesting to see each boy’s personality come through!

I gave each boy a handout that showed, step by step, how to measure the size of the pyramid, select the appropriate amount of sugar cubes and build the pyramid to scale. Each boy also had a cardboard platform (made from the side of a cereal box), a bottle of glue, a marker and a box of sugar cubes.

Knox didn’t bother marking anything. He just poured about half a bottle of glue on his cardboard, slapped down some sugar cubes, poured more glue on top and did another layer, and so on.

I kept warning him his pyramid would not turn out right without careful measuring and counting, but he didn’t seem to care! Each boy had been promised a sugar cube to eat when their pyramid was done, and getting that sugar cube in short order was Knox’s primary objective!

In spite of what I perceived as carelessness, Knox’s pyramid turned out perfectly! It seems that this activity was mere child’s play to his engineer’s mind. He perceived in 30 seconds what needed to be done, did it and moved on.

Colin and Jack, on the other hand, were much more careful. They laid out the base of their sugar cube pyramids and traced an outline around the base with a marker.

Next, they removed the cubes, painted the inside of the outline with glue and replaced the bottom layer of cubes. In spite of these precautions, Colin still felt that his pyramid base was not perfect. He took great care to turn each cube until all sides were even and flat, and fit exactly within the glued area.

After laying the base, they carefully painted the inner cubes before placing the next layer. Each layer was gradually smaller….the base was 6 x6, the next layer 4 x 4, then 2 x 2 and then 1 cube for the top. Jack made his larger, starting with 7 x 7, then 5 x 5 and so on.

This activity was easy enough for 3 year old Cal to participate in. He enjoyed it, too, especially eating a sugar cube at the end!

Comments

  1. Wow! I hadn’t realized that you have started Y1 already! Yea! I can ‘follow’ you. Ü All my books are ordered. I’ve probably spent too much on ToG for this year ($936), but I figure it’s my first year and I can see how *I* do ToG and what I can cut out for next year. Ya’ know? It’s a good thing I already had everything else (science, spelling, math, Latin, etc.).
    I need to bookmark this blog~
    Fun stuff!

  2. Looks like you guys are on the mend. So good to see you’re back to the fun parts of school.