DIY – Farm Diorama

UPDATE: This Craft Project was a winner in the Artsy Craftsy March Challenge for Animal Crafts!!

Cub and I have been a little slack in crafting, so I figured we’d make up for it with a little project. I’ve seen loads of dioramas on the internet and thought it was a great idea. Thinking up a theme took some time, since I wanted it to be simple and easy for Cub to understand. So, ‘Farm’ came up toppers.

This is how the conversation with Cub went:

Me: ‘Let’s make a craft project’

Cub (With a big grin): ‘Yay!!’

Me: ‘Let’s make a farm. You like that?’

Cub: ‘Yes!!’

Me: ‘What animals should we have in our farm?’

Cub: ‘Mmm…..Sheep……Cow….Giraffe……..and Elephant.’

Looks like someone has to work upon his animal knowledge.

Anyway, we searched the internet again, and got some ideas and set to work. Most of the supplies we used are things lying around the house, along with basic craft stuff like scissors, glue and tape. All I bought specifically for this craft was some blue chart paper to make the sky. Here’s the complete list of supplies we used for this little project:

Old Cereal box

Blue Chart Paper

Plain white paper

Colored paper sheets – Green, Black, Pink, Red

Old newspaper

Cotton Wool

Piece of Thermocol/ polystyrene

Ear buds

Pieces of yellow sponge

Popsicle Sticks

Googly Eyes

Scotch tape

Scissors (and a child safe pair for Cub)

Fevicol

Screwdriver

Paints

Extra farm animals, tractor etc.

Note: This is a project that older children can do all by themselves, except maybe the part using the screwdriver. For younger kids, you’ll definitely have to help by doing the tough parts. I’d recommend doing it in phases, like the background on one day, the animals on another etc., which makes it a perfect project for the summer holidays!!

Background

For the background, I used an old cereal box and cut it open along the sides.

Then I folded it like below, cutting out the unwanted flaps and sticking the sides together with tape.

Then I stuck on blue paper for the sky background, and green for the distant hills as well as the ground. Cotton wool formed the clouds.

Then I cut out thin strips of the leftover cereal box scraps, and Cub helped to stick popsicle sticks in a fence pattern. We glued them to the edge of the background and then reinforced with scotch tape.

Farm Animals

If you refer to the above conversation, you’ll notice that for Cub, ‘sheep’ was the first farm animal that came to mind. So, that was the first animal we made.

First, we scrunched up a sheet of newspaper into a ball.

Then I wrapped it white paper and sealed the ends with tape.

We poked four holes in the bottom with a screwdriver. Then I cut two ear buds in half and inserted them in the holes for legs.

Then it was time for a sheep face out of black paper with googly eyes stuck on. Then we covered the entire white ball with fevicol and stuck on the face in front, and cotton wool over the rest of the body.

Doesn’t he look adorable?? (Ok, I admit he does look a little overweight and like he’s going to topple over any minute)

Next, the cow.

Out of some old packing material, we cut out a rectangle and a triangle piece each.

Then, as with the sheep, we used ear buds as legs and to fix the body parts together.

We then gave the head some details. Ends of ear buds for ears, some pretty googly eyes and a pink paper mouth.

I love her eyes!! Itsy Bitsy has some really cute craft stuff J. There they are, a little awkward at making friends with each other!!

I also painted some black splodges on the cow. At this point, the farmer came along in his tractor to check if things were going okay.

Cub used that opportunity to add some extra animals from his toy collection – a horse and a pig. I also put in some pieces of yellow sponge for hay.

Then I checked if everything was in place. Oh wait. I forgot something – THE BARN!!! I immediately cut one out of red paper. The black you see are paper pieces and the white is paint. I stuck a piece of thermocol on the back of the barn and then stuck it on the background to give a ‘3-D’ effect.

Here’s a look at all the farm inhabitants again.

Blackie the sheep, giving the Tower of Pisa tough competition:

Elsie the cow, looking bashful for no apparent reason:

Ernie the horse, wondering if the hay is low-fat:

And Porkie the pig, having the time of his life:

I wanted Porkie to have a place of his own, so I used an empty biscuit package and put some cocoa powder in it.

Here’s the whole team together:

Cub was very happy with it and couldn’t wait to start playing. I barely managed to get some snaps J. I left him with it and by the end of the day, this was the scenario at the farm:

It looked like someone had announced the farm’s 1^st Hunger Games, and Blackie the sheep had emerged the lone victor. Blackie, who could barely stand on his own four feet. I honestly have no idea where the other animals are. Oh well.

This craft is a participant in the ‘Animal Crafts’ Challenge at the Artsy Craftsy Mom, sponsored by Itsy Bitsy. Do check out the link to see what other bloggers have made!

Check it out here!