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a red clay head of a man

Chinese terracotta army head made by kids at Laurelhurst School, Portland Oregon

In the Qin Dynasty, about 210 BC, one of the emperors had a whole army of men made out of clay to go in his tomb and guard him in the afterlife. Each one was just a little bit different from all the others: some had shorter hair, while others had longer hair. Some had wide noses, and others had narrow noses.

clay statues of Chinese soldiers

Qin Dynasty terracotta warriors

To make a head like the ones the emperor buried in his tomb, build it out of clay. It will use less clay if you make an armature. That’s a core made out of something else. You might use a balloon as your armature, or crumple paper into balls and then cover them with tape.

Other activities:

* Paper-making
* Making a compass

Bibliography and further reading about Qin Dynasty Chinese art:


The Incredible Story of China’s Buried Warriors, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent (1999). For middle schoolers, about the terracotta army figures shown on this page. Great reviews!

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Or about the Qin Dynasty
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