Year 3 blog

Mummifying Oranges

This term, Year 3 have been learning all about the Ancient Egyptians. As part of our learning, we have been teaching them all about the practice of mummification. The children were really interested in the process and were keen to have a go it. Having convinced them that mummifying a human would be too messy they agreed to mummify oranges. Pola, “It was really fun and it helped me know more about mummification.”

First, the children removed all the inside of the orange, through a small incision, so that there was no flesh left. They then dried the inside and outside of the orange thoroughly. Having dried the orange, the children then combined and the spooned in a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and salt. This mixture is call natron and is used to dry out the orange. Once the orange was completely full on natron the children carefully bandaged the orange. We now have to leave the bandaged oranges for a few weeks to wait for the process of mummification to occur. Winnie, “I like learning about Ancient Egyptians and it helped me know what mummification means.” Theo, “It was great fun and I really want to have another go at home!”