Roman villa model - inspiration needed

[AChickenCalledKorma]

DD2 aged 9 is planning to make a model of a Roman villa for her homework project.

She wants to use "wood or papier mache". Paper and card is boring.

Help - we need some shortcuts/inspiration/templates/ideas!

[Sparklingbrook]

Ooh that all sounds very ambitious, and complicated. I would be cheating with something like this.

[insanityscratching]

I'd get her to build it on minecraft and then get a screenshot. Far less messy, no worries about correcting any mistakes and pretty original too.

[Sparklingbrook]

That's genius insanity.

[TheWoollybacksWife]

No helpful tips for wood or paper mâché but when DD1 had to make something similar we used cake

It was easy to cut into different shapes and we used buttercream to stick pieces together and added fondant icing painted with food colouring for detail.

The trickiest bit was transporting it to school. (And not being able to eat it afterwards)

[Sparklingbrook]

if your DD is keen though. Two DSs went through Years 3 and 4 and had to do a project every term. Neither of them ever wanted to do it.

By the time DS2 was on his sixth and final one in Year 4 I actually told the school enough was enough and he wouldn't be doing it.

[inthename]

would recommend using toilet tissue and pva rather than paper mache as it dries quicker

[AChickenCalledKorma]

We definitely have the opposite problem Sparklingbrook - two daughters with grand ideas which descend into bitter recriminations when the finished result doesn't match their mental image.

Good ideas here, though.

Sadly, school has more or less banned cake-based projects as the idea has caught on in a big way and has been causing trauma when the kids realise they have gone stale and mouldy in the over-heated classrooms!

Debating the Minecraft idea, though. Not that she needs much encouragement to sit in front of it ...

[Sparklingbrook]

DS1 always had some brilliant ideas but he could never recreate them successfully when doing the project, which led to frustration and tantrums from us both. Usually ending with him stomping off.

[IamHelenaJustina]

I feel your pain. Currently scraping clay from fingernails after making a dinosaur........

[IamHelenaJustina]

I would use boxes btw - from custard, jelly, cup a soup, stock subes etc. Then cover with paper mache and paint.

[AChickenCalledKorma]

We are in business - she agrees cardboard boxes are a good idea, because she can then put little people inside them (kind of tricky with blocks of wood!) Currently gathering boxes. There are a lot of shoe boxes in our house and at this rate it will not fit through the classroom door ...