What Does It Take to Make a Brick? Part 2

Well, this turned out to take longer than I thought it would.

Before Baking

It was 86*F weather when we started the bricks, so I thought they would dry just fine. But then it got cold and damp. I brought them inside before it started raining (which, as my dear husband pointed out, it what I get for attempting this project in October.) We had read in one of our books that the ancient Indians (India, not America) backed their bricks in ovens, so after a week of the weather not getting any warmer, we tried baking the bricks. I had learned my lesson; we did not try the broil setting. We turned the brick forms upside down and tipped the mostly solid mud/dirt kept it's form. I kept it in the oven on 200*F for a few hours. I can see how this might work well if the brick mud had clay in it, but ours didn't really have any. Also, it made me wonder if the baked bricks the ancient Indians made were significantly better than the wood they had to burn to bake the bricks. Because it doesn't seem very efficient to me.

After Baking

The Winner

We only had room for three bricks, so we baked bricks 1, 2, and 3. Number 2 was the only one that didn't crumble, so Number 2 is the winner. Builder Boy declared it "absolutely perfect" and "brilliant."


(Click here for the beginning of the project.)
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The brick making idea came from the Activity Book One: Ancient Times. This activity was for Chapter Nine The First Cities of India.

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