How to Make an Egyptian Pyramid

My original Pyramid Kite Design makes a tetrahedron, a pyramid with exactly four faces, each of them a triangle. It's not quite an Egyptian pyramid shape. But it's easy to change -- just add one more straw to the bottom! -- to turn it into a proper Egyptian pyramid. Then you can make a larger pyramid than the paper model I gave you above.

Some students have tried the following, and they say it works!

If you're working on a school geometry project, try trimming the straws of the bottom and sides to different lengths, and/or use different numbers of straws to make different kinds of pyramids.

Materials to Make An Egyptian Pyramid With Straws:

• EIGHT drinking straws. If the store only has bendy straws, snip them just below the bendy joint.
  
• White string (like kite string) or heavy carpet thread.
  
• A heavy needle with a big eye, or make yourself a custom needle by folding over the end of a twist tie and shaving the paper sides to make it skinny! This needle will need to drop through the straws. You can push it through using a chopstick if it sticks.
  
• Tape or craft glue.

Optional Preparation:
My intructions work as long as the four bottom straws are all cut to the same length, and the four top straws are all cut to the same length. But what if you want to match the angle of a typical Egyptian pyramid?

In that case, try this online pyramid calculator that I used to create the paper model above. Measure one of the straws you'll be using for the bottom. It can be in centimeters or inches! This is your BASE EDGE. Then pick the ANGLE for your pyramid. The Great Pyramid is 51.85399 degrees. Here's a dense article with a chart of the angles of several Egyptian pyramids. Once you've chosen the base edge and the f/b angle, click "calculate" on the online pyramid calculator. The SLANT EDGE will be the length you need to cut the other four straws, the ones that rise up and meet at the top.



Instructions to Make This Pyramid:

1. String FOUR plastic drinking straws together to form a SQUARE. This is the bottom of your pyramid.
   
2. Tie the string's ends together securely, leaving as little slack as possible.
   
3. Now here's the interesting part. Grab the remaining four straws. You're going to decide how tall and skinny, or short and wide your pyramid is. If you use the drinking straws as they are, your pyramid will be steeper and skinnier than an Egyptian pyramid. So, cut these four straws a bit to make the pyramid shorter and more pyramid-shaped. It will work, as long as these four straws are all the same length. (Use the optional pyramid calculator above if you want to match a real Egyptian pyramid).
   
4. Once you've picked your length, string TWO of the straws together and tie them to one side of the square. Take the other two straws and make a triangle on the opposite side, giving the square "ears". (These are the red and blue lines on the diagram.)
   
5. Lift the points of the triangles up and tie them together.
   
6. Take one of my stone wall textures (below), print out several sheets, and wrap the pyramid in it. Or use construction paper and decorate it yourself!
7. You can make a pyramid of ANY size by making more pyramids (repeating steps 1-5) and stacking them, as long as you cut all the straws used in step 3 to the same length. To make a double-size version of my design, create four more pyramids, then tie the peaks of the bottom ones to the bottom corners of the top one. Don't paper until you've got them all done.

Stone Wall Textures: CLICK thumbnails to download full-sized pictures.

Full Page Wall Texture

Seamless Texture: Stone Wall**



** If you know Photoshop, Select All, then choose "Define Pattern." Now you've got a stone wall texture you can scale to different sizes (pick Layers > Pattern Overlay)!

Stone wall texture adapted from Ian Scott's photo of a Roman-period Egyptian stone wall.

NEW: My Mom has made an even better seamless tile texture using the same photo from Mr. Scott!

Egyptian God Thoth (also available: Horus, Isis, Bastet, others)

Plushie Anubis, Egyptian God of the Dead

The Ancient Egyptian Game of Senet

Uncle Goose's Egyptian Hieroglyphs Alphabet Blocks