What Kind of Materials Can I Make a Pyramid With?

Sand

• Found in a natural abundance within every coastal and desert country, sand is a modern medium used to build pyramids. Sculptors pack sand using water, motor oil or clay to create a cementlike substance and pile it to the height and shape they desire. Using flat sculpting tools, they carve the sand and create the shape of they pyramid they desire and remove loose pieces by blowing softly through a straw. Some sculptors spray the finished pyramid with acrylic sealant to keep it from cracking.

House of Cards

• Card pyramids traditionally are made from rows of triangles created by three playing cards, topped by a row of flat cards, and followed by a row of triangles, and so on. The foundation can also be built with rows of squares, created by four cards. The pyramids are constructed from the bottom up, rising in shape of a triangle, or taking on extravagant shapes and designs. According to Metro Online, the largest house of cards took 44 hours to build and required 4,051 decks of cards. Card pyramid building, also known as "stacking," has a unique set of rules and page in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Ideas

• Pyramids can be conceived and sketched using complex ideas. An example of this is the food pyramid, which outlines the categories of food products in a way that teaches proper serving sizes. The food group with the highest recommended serving makes up the largest layer at the bottom, while that with the least recommended serving creates the smallest layer at the top. Many societies use conceptual pyramids to outline social class systems, with the lowest class level, comprising the largest number of people at the bottom, and the highest class level, including the elite few, at the top.

Humans

• When materials are scarce, humans can use themselves as mediums to construct pyramids. The human pyramid, used traditionally in the sport of cheerleading, requires endurance, strength, balance and teamwork. Throughout the centuries, human pyramids have evolved as dangerous thrill stunts performed by water skiers, motorcyclists and other extreme sports practitioners. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest moving human pyramid was four stories high and comprised members of a roller gymnastics team.