Dinosaur Diorama

Some kids love dinosaurs, so this diorama will be something they will enjoy. Our classes are only one hour long, so I have chosen to print dinosaur pictures to use with this project, but if you choose to have the kids draw the dinosaurs, here is a great website showing how to draw them. http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/how-to-draw-dinosaurs.htm . In the supply list I have included a sheet of images to use as I did. For diorama background ideas, go to http://www.prehistory.com/and click on the different categories.

Supplies:

Kleenex box
Blue construction paper (cut 3 ¾ X 18″)
Green construction paper(cut 4 ½ X 8 ¾)
Scraps of construction paper
White cardstock
Pictures of dinosaurs, one copy per four students(Pattern)
Light blue marker
Scissors
Glue stick

Directions:

To prepare the Kleenex box, cut away one long side leaving about ½” around the outside. You may have to reinforce the corners with a bit of scotch tape.
Fold the blue construction paper so that each end measures 4 ½”. Slide the paper through the top opening in the Kleenex box and fit to the back and sides of the box.
Fit the green paper to the bottom inside of the box.
Show some pictures for background ideas. With scrap pieces of paper draw and cut out trees, grass, shrubs, clouds and water. Make a couple of trees with space left on the bottom to bend back and glue to make them free standing. Glue clouds to the sky; a water hole and free standing shrubs to the bottom. Glue grass to the front bottom edge and add distant trees to the sides and back of the diorama.
Make copies of dinosaurs on white cardstock. Each student gets two images. I cut the images leaving about ½” of margin along the bottom of the image to fold to the back and glue inside the diorama, this makes the dinosaurs free standing. I allowed about 1/4″ around the rest of the image and colored around the image with the light blue marker.
If using the flying image, tape a string across the top opening. Glue a small piece of string to the back of the image and tie it to the opening string.

1st Grade Project Gallery: