How to make a Trojan horse out of popsicle sticks

The Trojan horse is a legendary icon of ancient history. It was used as a trap by the Greeks to trick the Trojans into allowing this beautiful wooden sculpture into their city during the Trojan Wars. The Greeks concealed themselves inside the sculpture until nightfall, when they left the horse, slew the guards of Troy and opened the gates for the rest of their army. You can create your own Trojan horse out of ice lolly sticks for any project on history or as an exercise in engineering and building with basic materials.

Create sections of ice lolly sticks that are grouped together for stability. Do this by placing four ice lolly sticks together vertically. Glue a ice lolly stick diagonally across this group to create the section. Make 32 of these sections for the legs, 12 for the midsection, 6 for the hindquarters with 24 loose sticks, and 16 for the head with 18 loose sticks.

Glue the midsection together by gluing three sections together so that the middle section lays flat on the table and the two other sections are glued to the left and right diagonally. Repeat this and then glue the two newly created sections together to form a hexagon shape. Create one more hexagon shape and glue this to the other hexagon shape to complete the torso.

Create the legs by gluing four sections together so that you create a rectangular cube. Create another rectangular cube and glue this on top of the first to complete the leg. Repeat this three times. When each leg has dried, glue a small wooden craft wheel to the bottom-outside edge.

Make the hindquarters of the horse by creating a hexagon similar to the one that you created for the midsection. However, at the bottom of the hindquarters, add 12 ice lolly sticks that are glued to the outside edge of the hexagon and come together diagonally. This should resemble a slightly curved fan. You can create this element separately and then glue it to the hexagon later.

Create the head by laying down eight sections of ice lolly sticks for each side of the horse head. Glue each side together so that two sections overlap vertically for the nose. Glue another section perpendicularly to the nose. Attach four sections vertically to create the hair of the Trojan horse. Add one last diagonal section just above the nose and between the start of the hair. Let this dry and repeat to create the other side of the head. Place some rumpled newspaper in between the two face sections to keep them separated while you glue nine sets of two vertical ice lolly sticks perpendicular to the edges of the face to connect the sides of the face. Add the ears with two ice lolly sticks glued in an upside-down V shape at the upper-right and upper-left corners of the head.

Glue the midsection to the hindquarters and let this dry for 30 minutes. Glue the head to the midsection. Let this dry for 30 minutes. Glue the legs to the underside of the midsection and torso.