Making diorama's is by far one of my favorite art projects to do with the kids. There's something about its smallness that makes me want to crawl inside. I can still remember the the very first time I saw a diorama put together - Dad worked on it for a school project for my sister. And I was mesmerized by the detail of the cutting, gluing, and layering. He made a library. And oh... I wish we still had it.
Dioramas are put together usually haphazardly, with layers upon layers of mixed materials. The kids and I signed up for a science art class at our local museum, and in the first 4 weeks, we put together a dinosaur diorama. I was amazed with the process of how long it took. We first painted the boxes - top for the sky, bottom brown and blue for land and water. Next, we worked with our hands to sculpt a dinosaur {this was quite tricky} using some of the miniature models.
Dioramas are put together usually haphazardly, with layers upon layers of mixed materials. The kids and I signed up for a science art class at our local museum, and in the first 4 weeks, we put together a dinosaur diorama. I was amazed with the process of how long it took. We first painted the boxes - top for the sky, bottom brown and blue for land and water. Next, we worked with our hands to sculpt a dinosaur {this was quite tricky} using some of the miniature models.
The following week, we painted our dried beasts, and glued back on a tail or two...
We also practiced excavating! Using toothpicks, we tried to chip the chocolate chips out of the cookie - it was NOT as easy as it sounds. Ava got 7 out, while Noah... well, he concluded that the activity was wasteful, and that a good chocolate chip cookie shouldn't be wasted. He did try though!
Extinction was no doubt there favorite class. What is it about "volcanoes" and "lava" that pique the children's interest so much? We covered empty camera roll cases {remember those?} with clay and shaped it with our fingers until it resembled somewhat into a volcano. Then we added a teaspoon of baking soda to the bottom of the volcano. In a separate cup, we mixed vinegar with a little bit of dish washing soap and food coloring... poured it into our volcano and...
Our dinosaur tipped over. This was to demonstrate what may have happened to the dinosaurs when volcanoes erupted. We made another set when we got home - this was a lot of fun for the kids {and messy!}
We cut leaves out of the painted strips of paper using zig-zagged scissors... toilet tissue paper holders wrapped with brown corrugated paper for trees and blue corrugated paper for water... some sticks and pebbles in the corners, and it all came together like this...
Ava's....
And Noah's... Noah was very adamant that the dinosaur eggs be placed in the tree... so lots of hot glue was used to keep everything in tact. What a wonderful project - easy to do at home too. This Friday we'll be finishing up our dioramas on Egypt! Stay tuned...
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