August 8, 2007 - Ancient China Hands-on Activity

For our study of Ancient China, we made an ancient book. You may have noticed it in the lapbook pictures if you visited that Flickr set. Here's DD holding it for you to see.

Paper was invented in the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). But before the invention of paper, books were made with strips of bamboo tied together with strings. Then the books could be rolled up like a scroll.

I thought, well, that sounds easy enough. I've seen replicas of these during my time in China. We could do that. We used popsicle sticks instead of bamboo. [grin]

Here's a step by step of how we did it.

1. I gathered an exacto knife, a cutting board, wooden craft sticks, a ruler, and a pencil.


2.  I measured about one cm from the top of the sticks on both tips and marked it lightly.
3.  My next step was to cut notches where I'd drawn the line. I used a marker here to make it clear for you.

This is for the adult to do, obviously.


4. Then DD tied the sticks together with rafia, making sure the rafia fit into the grooves I'd cut. Twine or jute would work well too. But we had rafia.

5. Lastly DD wrote Chinese characters on the sticks going up and down.
Well, some of her characters are a bit creative. Chinese people may not recognize them. But to you it looks great, right? It looks just like Chinese characters!

PS We used wire first. What a disaster. It was pink, and it wasn't flexible enough to hold together. DD kept saying, "Mom, ancient books did not have pink wire holding them together." Okay, okay, she was right. The wire was a terrible idea. Don't use wire. Use something natural -- twine or string.

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Comments

August 9, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by noahsmom

oooh what a neat idea...you are very creative! Looks good!

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August 9, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by eclecticeducation

How cute! I love your lapbooks. Thanks for sharing them.

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August 9, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by nsremom

yeah mom, ancient books did NOT have pink wire. :)

she's a hoot!

cool project. Lovin' the lap book too.

Emily
thelearningneverstops.blogspot.com

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August 9, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by EEEEMommy

You are SO cool! I just LOVE all your lap books!

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August 10, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by amtell

Looks great! Wow what a lot of work your daughter (and you) put into it.

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August 14, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by sahmto4orMore

It looks great!

I miss doing lapbooks......just haven't had the energy to pull one off in awhile and all our stuff is still packed.
Maybe we can manage one before baby comes if the boys are "into" the idea.

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March 19, 2008 - yipeeeee

Posted by Anonymous

lol,. im doing a model for history about ancient China, this book idea is really good/usefull. yippe thankie

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January 29, 2009 - ancient book

Posted by Dawn B.

This will be great for our homeschool geography fair in which we are presenting China! Thanks for the inspiration (and good photos and instructions)!

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