Embalming Tomatoes!

On Monday 20th January,  the Woodpeckers investigated the scientific process of mummification by becoming Egyptian Embalmers! As there weren’t any dead Pharaohs lying around, the children used tomatoes instead- to symbolise the Pharaoh’s body. The children followed steps to prepare the body (tomato) for mummification; such as taking out the vital organs (seeds and pulp) and putting them in canopic jars (bowls), before cleaning and perfuming the body (with antibacterial hand wash). The children then weighed their Pharaohs (tomatoes), before stuffing them with Natron (bicarbonate of soda mixed with salt) to dry their bodies out and preserve them. Then the children covered the outside of the bodies (tomatoes) with the rest of the Natron and put them each inside a sealed bag. This process would have taken seventy days in Egyptian times to completely dry out the body, but we will look at and weigh our Pharaohs again in two weeks time to see if our experiment worked. The children made predictions about what they thought would happen to their Pharaohs over the next two weeks. The tomatoes should weigh much less in two weeks time – if our embalming process has worked!