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Ideas for Diorama Projects

Mukta Gaikwad
Looking for project ideas? Here are a few diorama ideas for kids, that can help your child to win the best project of the year trophy.
Every child has to make some projects during the schooling years. Making hand-crafted projects are very important learning tools for kids. The whole process of building a project, teaches the child a lot many things, that otherwise go unnoticed within the classroom walls.
However, coming up with science fair projects, is not always easy. Shoebox dioramas, are the quintessential projects that take little effort, but are worthy. These are basically, three dimensional projects, set up in a shoebox or any right size box for that matter. With diorama ideas galore, there are lots of themes, and science topics that you can explore.

Solar System

Children find it difficult to assimilate grand ideas of the solar systems, galaxy, planets, and the other, larger than life celestial bodies. However, the same can be taught with a lot of ease, if you involve your child in making a diorama solar system project.
To make this project, you will need eight different sized balls to make Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (you can use aluminum foil to make the rings around it), Uranus, and Neptune.You will find the approximate size of these balls in any toy shop. Use a paper or some color of differentiate them as the nine planets.
Color co-ordinate the planets, according to the colors of the planets. Like Saturn is a pale yellow, it can either be painted or warped in a gelatin paper. String these planets together and hand them in the center of the box. At one end of the box, fix a torch, to represent the sun.
Paint the backdrop back and sprinkle some sparkle onto the wet paint, to show the celestial bodies. Paint a dull white strip across the black backdrop, to show the milky way. Finally, don't forget to make the moon.

Flora and Fauna

This is more like a craft project for children, since it is going to require some art work. Making the model of aquatic flora and fauna, looks beautiful and attractive.
Again, either paint the backdrop marine blue or stick a saran paper all over. Cut out three dimensional, flora and fauna from a thermocol sheet and ask your kid to paint them. Paste the flora at the bottom, and the fauna on the backdrop. You can also hand a few cutouts, using a string.

Rainforest

The concept of tall threes and thick canopies, is a little difficult for children to ideate. Thus, begin by explaining dynamics of a rainforest. You will need a fairly large box to make a rainforest diorama project. You will need thin wires, dried sponge, paints (green, brown, blue and black), plastic toy animals, glue, and scissors.
Use the wires to make thick, thin, short, and tall tree trunks. Stick the dried sponge on top of it, and paint it in hues of green. Use the blue paint for a river meandering its way through the trees, and finally place the animals in the jungle.

Tips for Diorama Projects

  • Make a diorama project, which tells a story. The picture that you are trying to put up, must narrate a scene to the viewer. This way it will make the viewer think.
  • There are no rules for the diorama project ideas, so stretch your imagination beyond the limits. In fact, your only limit is your imagination!
  • The final look of the diorama should be clear in your head. For the sake of convenience, draw the picture on a paper, to guide you through it.
  • In case you are making a big shoebox diorama, use the box horizontally.
A desert scene, eclipses, a castle, scene of your room, waxing and waning of the moon, sunrise and sunset are some of the ideas that you can try making. Hope you got a general picture of what a diorama project should look like. Have fun making it!