Dioramas are small scenes. Creating a nature diorama is a great way to have fun and learn about the earth. In our special version, called an EcoRama, you'll have a chance to learn more about us and the environment by creating your own nature scene. Just as everything on the earth is connected, so is the EcoRama. As you make it, you'll visit each of us and discover how our ecosystems work.
Each of the EcoPals will take a turn guiding you through this step-by-step process. I'll see you when it's my turn. Have fun!
In this project you will create your own version of the Crystal River scene from the Living Kingdom game. Start your EcoRama with Synapse. He's your first guide and can't wait to help you!
Synapse: Find treasures for your EcoRama and prepare your box.
Pulsar: Make a sun for your EcoRama.
Breezy: Create clouds and a sky in your EcoRama.
Geo: Build the ground and stones for your EcoRama.
Misty: Make a waterfall and river for your EcoRama.
Bloom: Make and add plants to your EcoRama.
Fauna: Create all the animals and bugs for your EcoRama scene.
Remember, you can always add things to your scene that we have not included. Also, you can use your imagination to create your own nature scenes. Go ahead and have fun!
EcoRama Step One: Trash Treasure Chest
Medulla Oblongata! It's great to be working with you! Your Trash Treasure
Chest is the best place to start creating your EcoRama. If you don't have one yet, don't worry. It's easy! All you need is a bag, box, or crate where you can collect your trash treasures. Anything that is thrown away that you can use later is a trash treasure.
The following is a list of trash treasures that will help you make your EcoRama. You can collect them all now or collect them as you create your EcoRama step-by-step.
Trash Treasures:
- a shoe box
- yellow or orange and green tissue paper (from gifts)
- hand made paper or white paper
- plastic wrap or cellophane (clear or orange)
- a plastic sandwich bag
- scraps of colored paper
- scraps of colored tissue paper
- a brown paper grocery bag
- an old sponge
- a foam egg carton
- cotton (ask your parents if there's some inside old vitamin bottles)
- a plastic grocery bag to carry things in
- wax paper
- tin foil
- black paper
- light card board or heavy paper
- newspaper or other drop cloth (to cover table while painting)
EcoRama Step Two: Preparing Your Box
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- brown paper grocery bag
- an old sponge or recycled egg carton or other stamping devise
- a shoe box
Others stuff:
- glue or scotch tape
- paint
- shallow dishes for paint
- scissors
- paint brush (optional)
- an adult with a craft knife (optional)
Instructions:
- Cut shapes out of your sponge. You can make some shapes related to nature, the environment, or anything else. Moon and stars are my favorite!
- Once your shapes are cut out, prepare your paints in shallow dishes.
- Dip your sponges into the paint. Just coat the surface. Too much paint will turn your shape into a blob! Stamp your spong shapes onto the brown paper.
- Continue to use your sponges or egg carton pieces as stamps, with the paint as ink. Stamp your shapes onto the brown paper. If you use different colors make sure you clean the sponge or carton between stamps so you don't mix the paints.
- Once you are finished decorating your brown paper, let it dry completely.
- When your paper is dry, wrap your EcoRama box. Wrap the lid separately so you can close and open it. If you have extra paper, you can save it to wrap gifts.
- Using your scissors, cut a small hole (about the size of a quarter) at one end of your shoe box. This will be the hole you look through to view your nature scene. Do not use a craft knife without an adult. They are really sharp!
- Now you are ready to create your very own version of Crystal River. You'll need paper to decorate your EcoRama. You may want to take some time to make your own recycled paper. If you'd like to, visit Synapse's Cool Project section. Or you can use regular paper. Either way, the other EcoPals are ready to guide you through your creation. And I'll be back to help you put on finishing touches. Enjoy!
EcoRama Step Three : Lights! Colors! Action!
I've been waiting for you! Crystal River and every other environment needs the sun to be healthy and grow. So let's start your nature scene by adding a little sunshine!
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- yellow or orange tissue paper (used gift wrap)
-OR-
yellow or orange plastic wrap (use wrap saved from a gift basket)
Tip: If you have white tissue paper, you can paint it with yellow watercolor paint or food coloring.
- glue
- a flashlight
- a cup or other circle shaped object to use as a stencil
- scissors
-or-
an adult with a craft knife
- Draw your sun with a pencil using a cup or other circular object as a guide. Put your sun on the opposite side of your box as your peep hole.
- If an adult can help, it might be best to have them cut your sun out with a craft knife. If not, you can cut it out with regular scissors. Remember: Don't use a craft knife without adult supervision.
- Next, cut out a piece of yellow or orange tissue paper a little larger than the hole. You can also use colored cellophane.
- Dab small drops of glue around the edges of the hole on the outside of the shoe box. Place your paper or cellophane over the hole and press until it is glued in place.
- Cover your shoe box with the lid. Look inside and shine a flashlight through the back of the sun. Wow, that's hot! The sun is shining on what will soon be your beautiful Crystal River scene. Take the lid off and set it aside. You won't need it again until you have finished creating your nature scene.
EcoRama Step Four: Flying High
Hi! Now that you've added your sun, let's add the sky. Is it a clear, sunny day on
Crystal River? Are there clouds? As you know, there are many different
kinds of clouds. Which one would you like to add to the sky of your nature
scene? If you'd like to see different clouds and find out their names, take a
moment to visit my EcoInfo section.
Many people think clouds look like cotton balls in the sky. Bet you can't guess what you're going to make your clouds from! You guessed!!
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- cotton (used for packing or preserving) or cotton balls listed below. Hint: You can recycle cotton in vitamin bottles. Ask an adult to collect some for you.
- cotton balls (or recycled cotton listed above)
- paint or colored paper
- glue
- Have you noticed that the sky is a different color or many colors depending on the time of day? If you haven't, take a moment to look. Paint the sides and top of your box the color or colors that you want your sky to be. You can also line it with colored paper. Cut the paper out and glue it down. Be careful not to paint the sun or cover it with paper.
- Decide which kind of clouds you would like to add to your scene. Pull the cotton balls apart so that they look like that kind of cloud.
- When the paint of your sky is dry or your colored paper is in place, glue your clouds to it.
EcoRama Step Five: Crystal River Rocks!
I'm happy you're here! Together we'll create the ground of your
Crystal River scene. How? Just like Mother Nature does - with clay!
Clay comes directly from the earth. It is a type of dirt that is made up of many small particles of rock. Water surrounds each particle and forms a moldable material that can be formed into different shapes for different uses. People have used clay for thousands of years. Roads, bricks, writing tablets, pots, vases, and tiles are some things that were once made from clay. We still use clay today. Cement is made by mixing clay with sand. What things around your house are made from clay?
Pure clay is found in many locations around the world and looks different depending on the type of particles it contains. In Mexico clay is often red. In China clay is very white. The clay found in the earth often has to be treated before use because it is mixed with other types of dirt. You can buy clay in an art store that has been collected from the earth and treated.
Or you can use the following recipe to make your own version of clay at home. It's called Clay Dough and is made up of very small particles of flour instead of rocks. It is not as strong as real clay, but it's fun and easy to make.
Clay Dough Earth Sculptures:
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- a plastic bag (the kind vegetables or fruit come in or a sandwich bag)
- wax paper or tin foil or black paper (see details below)
Other stuff:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups salt
- a spoon
- a bowl
- water
- conventional oven and tin foil
-OR-
microwave oven and wax paper
-OR-
solar oven (from Pulsar's Cool Project page) and black paper or tin foil
-OR-
warm dry place and wax paper or tin foil
- paints
- a paint brush
Instructions:
- Mix the flour and salt together in the bowl. Add water drop by drop until you have soft dough. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour. If it is too dry, add a little more water. Knead the mixture with your hands until it turns into dough.
- Set aside half of your clay dough to make your earth sculptures (like rocks, hills, river banks, etc.). Put the rest of your clay in a plastic bag and store it in your refrigerator (you'll need it later when you visit Fauna).
- Mold your clay into rocks, hills or other earth objects for your Crystal River scene. You can also make river banks to line your blue painted river.
- Next, dry your earth sculptures. You can air dry them, sun cook them,
microwave them, or bake them in a regular oven. Make sure to ask an adult
for help when using a microwave or conventional oven.
To air dry: Place your earth sculptures in a warm, dry place overnight. Be sure the clay is hard and dry before you use it. Large or thick pieces of clay may take longer. Once the pieces are dry continue to step 5.
To sun cook: Here's a great way to use your solar oven! If you haven't already made one and would like to, visit Pulsar's Cool Project section. Find a sunny spot outside for your solar oven. Put your earth sculptures on a piece of black paper or tin foil. Place them inside your solar oven. Let them cook for 1-3 hours. Test them every hour to see if they are hard. If not, keep baking. Check every so often that your solar oven is still in the full sunlight. If not, reposition it. When your earth sculptures are hard, remove them with a cooking mitten and let them cool. Once they are cool, you can take them off of the paper or foil and go to step 5.
To microwave: Get an adult to help you. Place your earth sculptures on axed paper and bake on high for 1 to 2 minutes. Be sure the clay is fully baked and hard. If it's soft to the touch, continue baking it in 10 second intervals until it is hard. Be careful when you check them because they will be hot! Use a cooking mitten to remove the wax paper and sculptures from the oven. When they are cool, you can take them off of the wax paper and go to step 5.
To bake in an oven: Get an adult to help you. Preheat oven to 300°
Fahrenheit. Place your earth sculptures on a cookie sheet or tin foil and
bake for an hour. Watch your sculptures to make sure they don't burn. If
they brown too quickly, you can cover them with foil and continue to bake
them. Be sure the clay is fully baked and hard. If it's soft to the touch,
continue baking it in 15 minute intervals until it is hard. Remind the adults
to be careful when you check them because the sculptures will be hot! Use a
cooking mitten to remove the baking sheet or tin foil with your sculptures.
Let the sculptures cool on the sheet or tin foil. Then, take them off of the
sheet or foil and go to step 5.
- Now it's time to paint your earth sculptures. You may wish to chose a color that looks like those in nature or perhaps you have another idea! Let them dry, then glue them into your EcoRama.
- You may also want to collect other earth objects to add to your EcoRama, like real rocks, sand, and gravel.
EcoRama Step Six : Water Ways
Hi! Your Crystal River scene couldn't be one without a river! So let's make one. Like the sun, air and earth, water is a vital element for life. That's why you find lots of plants, animals, bugs, and people around rivers. In this step of your EcoRama, we're going to use my secret rain painting technique to create your beautiful Crystal River.
This would be a perfect time to use the handmade paper you made with Synapse or visit his Cool Project section to make some now. Or, you can use regular white paper.
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- handmade paper or regular white paper
- newspaper or drop cloth
- clear plastic wrap or cellophane (optional)
- water color paints
- paint brush
- falling rain (or misty water from a squirt gun, or spray bottle)
- glue
- scissors
- Cover your painting area with old newspaper or a drop cloth so it doesn't get
painted too. Paint one sheet of paper blue. This sheet will be used for the
river water. While you're at it, you may want to paint other sheets different
colors, like green, brown, yellow, etc. These sheets can be used later to cut
out trees, flowers, butterflies and other things in your EcoRama. You could
also mix colors on the paper. Use your imagination!
- If you happen to be doing this on a rainy day, you're in luck! Put on your rain gear and take the blue paper outside. Let the rain drops fall on it. It's just takes a few moments for rain to create wonders on your paper. If it doesn't happen to be raining where you live, use a spray bottle, or squirt gun, to drop water on your paper to create rain.
- Carefully bring the paper in to dry. See the interesting designs the rain created. If you like, you can do the same rain painting technique on your other colored sheets.
- When your paper is completely dry it's ready to add to your EcoRama. Cut
the blue paper to the shape and size of the river you'd like in your nature
scene. Glue it down inside your EcoRama.
- Once you have your river in place you can cover it with wrinkled cellophane or plastic wrap for a more realistic water effect.
EcoRama Step Seven : Go Get Your Plants On!
Welcome to your EcoRama nursery! In this step you'll add the plants that grow along Crystal River. Have you noticed all the kinds of trees, grasses, flowers and other plants that grow along rivers? Plants are an important part of the ecosystem of a river. They provide oxygen and food for fish, animals, bugs, and other wildlife. They even help clean the river!
So let's add a little greenery to your Crystal River scene. The best place to start is outside. Can you look in your neighborhood or at the park and find treasures to add to your Crystal River scene? Flower petals, leaves, twigs, or grass may be wonderful things to look for. You could collect real leaves off the ground and paste them into your nature scene. Remember not to disturb the environment as you collect things. It's best to pick up things that are lying on the ground like fallen leaves, petals or cut grass. Look at the world through your imagination and see what treasures you discover. Enjoy the hunt! Instead of hunting outside, you can also use paper and art supplies to create your own greenery.
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- a bag to collect your treasures
- tissue paper or crepe paper (green or any color) (look for recycled gift wrap)
- light cardboard or heavy paper (often found in packaging)
- a sense of adventure
- glue
- scissors
- paint, markers, or crayons
- pencil with eraser head
- painted paper sheets (from Misty's Step Six optional)
- Once you have completed your treasure hunt for natures gifts, add them to your EcoRama.
- Glue down any items that you'd like to stay in place.
- Remember those sheets you painted with Misty? Well, now's the time to
use them! You can add even more plants to your scene by cutting out trees,
flowers, grass, and bushes from your painted paper. Glue them into your Eco-
Rama as well. We have a special technique for creating trees. If you'd like to
learn how, continue to Step 4 .
- Cut a tree shape out of light cardboard or heavy paper. Make the trunk a little
taller to allow room at the bottom to glue it down later. Color it with paint, markers or crayons. You can also cover it with the painted paper you made with Misty, if you have some.
- Place one square on the eraser end of the pencil, fold sides over the end, and twist the pencil.
- Now we are going to create the leaves. Green is a great color of tissue
paper to use, or any color that you'd like. You can use different colors to add
flower blossoms or fruit to your tree. Take your tissue paper and cut
out small squares, about 3/4" by 3/4". Cut out many, many squares. It saves
time if you fold your paper over and cut out many squares at once.
- Place one square on the eraser end of the pencil, fold sides over the end, and twist the pencil.
- Place a drop of glue on the paper at the end of your pencil. Gently
press the glue side down to the tree top of the card board tree you cut out.
Voila! Leaves! (Hint: If you're having trouble sticking the leaves down, try
using LESS glue. Just a small drop works best.)
- You did a wonderful job! Continue repeating steps 6 and 7 until your tree
has all the leaves you desire. This is a great time to add any flower blossoms or
fruit, using different color tissue paper.
- Your tree looks great! Now you're ready to place it in your Crystal
River scene. Fold about 1/2" of the bottom of the trunk, add a little glue and press it down into your EcoRama.
- Make as many trees as you like by repeating steps 4 to 9. You can also use the same technique to add grass or flowers to your EcoRama.
EcoRama Step Eight: Sculpting Wildlife
Hi! Your EcoRama looks great! It's almost finished! Now it's time to add another important element to your Crystal River scene wildlife. Rivers are habitats that teem with life. If you have ever visited a river or lake, you know that lots of animals, birds, bugs, even people, make their homes in and around the water. What type of animals and insects are usually located near a river?
By now you should have some clay dough already made. If you don't yet, go back to step five and Geo will help you make some. If you have your dough, you are ready to create the wonderful wildlife for your EcoRama. Since this is your special nature scene, you can put any bugs and animals that you want to in it. Maybe you'd like to create a sculpture of yourself or your favorite EcoPal and place them in the scene too!
Stuff you'll need:
Trash Treasures:
- wax paper (for micro waving)
-or- - aluminum foil (for the oven) or a cookie sheet (listed below)
-or- - black paper (for your solar oven)
- clay dough (from Geo's step five)
- paints
- paint brush
- cookie sheet for baking (instead of aluminum foil listed above)
- glue (optional)
- Select your favorite insects and animals for your EcoRama. Then create them, using your imagination and clay dough.
- In this step, you will dry your wildlife works of art. You can air dry them, sun cook them, microwave them, or bake them in a regular oven. Make sure to ask an adult for help when using a microwave or conventional oven.
To air dry: Place your wildlife sculptures in a warm dry place overnight. Be sure the clay is hard and dry before continuing on to the next step.
To sun cook: Here's a great way to use your solar oven! If you haven't already made one and would like to, visit Pulsar's Cool Project section. Find a sunny spot outside for your solar oven. Put your wildlife sculptures on a piece of black paper or aluminum foil. Place them inside your solar oven. Let them cook for 1-3 hours, be sure the clay is hard and dry before continuing on to step 3.
To microwave: Get an adult to help you. Place your wildlife sculptures on waxed paper and bake on high for 1 to 2 minutes. Be sure the clay is fully baked and hard. Test to see if it is, but be careful. Your sculptures will be hot! If the clay is soft to the touch, continue baking it in 10 second intervals until it is hard. Remind the adults to be careful when they check them because the sculptures will be hot! Use a cooking mitten to remove the wax paper and your sculptures from the oven. When they are cool, you can take it off of the wax paper and go to Step 3.
To bake in an oven: Get an adult to help you. Preheat oven to 300° Fahrenheit. Place your wildlife sculptures on a cookie sheet or aluminum foil and bake for an hour. Watch your sculptures to make sure they don't burn.
If they brown too quickly, have an adult cover them with foil and continue to bake them. Be sure the clay is fully baked and hard. Have an adult test to see if it is. Remind you adult to be careful. Your sculptures will be hot! If the dough is soft to the touch, continue baking it in 15 minite intervals until it is hard. Have an adult remove the sculptures. Let them cool on the sheet or aluminum foil. When your sculptures are cool you're ready for step 3.
- Once your sculptures are cool they are ready to paint. Have fun! Then, set them aside to let the paint dry. It will take about an hour, but it varies depending on the type of paint you used.
- Once the paint has dried, your wildlife art is complete. Carefully place them in their Crystal River habitat in your EcoRama.
- You can glue them into place or leave them free to roam around.
Finishing Touches
Now is a great time to put any finishing touches in your EcoRama. You could add anything you feel is missing.
You can paint the sides, the bottom, or anything else. You can line it with paper or add other things from nature, like sand or rocks. Take some time adding your finishing touches.
Congratulations! You've created your very own Living Kingdom scene with all the wonders of nature in it. Now close the box lid. Shine a flashlight through the sun and look through your viewing hole.
It's beautiful! You've done a great job with your EcoRama! Each of us has enjoyed doing this project with you. We hope you've had as much fun as we have!