Reading should be a visceral, emotional experience 鈥� because it engages our imaginations. But during first and second grade聽鈥� when many public 黄色app curriculums tend to favor rote readin鈥�, writin鈥�, and 鈥檙ithmetic methods 鈥� it’s easy for kids to lose touch with the sheer magic of books. As kids are drawn to more complex movies and TV, books also can lose their standing as the most entertaining medium.
One of the best ways to inject some excitement into reading is to create a project that gives your child a dramatic way to express how her imagination interacts with the page. A three-dimensional diorama will not only engage the book lovers in your family but also the kids who may be wondering if reading is hard work. For science-minded kids, you can give the project a 鈥渉igh-tech鈥� spin with Christmas lights or music to complete the scene.
The project: A diorama that recreates a favorite scene from a book
Get ready: Fill in the details
- Talk to your child about a favorite book, preferably one she鈥檚 read recently. Ask her to describe a favorite scene from that story. Push her for lots of details, so you鈥檒l be able to give her ideas when creating the diorama.
- Next, have her sketch out what she鈥檇 like the diorama to look like聽鈥� go online to check out examples for inspiration.
- Gather up the basic materials you鈥檒l need, including a shoebox and paints, as well as any special ones you know you鈥檒l need (cotton balls for clouds, if the scene is outside, for instance). Pipe cleaners come in very handy with a diorama聽鈥� they can be trees, a fence, or the structure for a house.
Make it happen: It鈥檚 a small world
Using the sketch as reference, have your child paint the back, sides and floor of the shoebox. Now it鈥檚 time to create your world.
If the scene includes people or animals, have your child make them from clay. Use small dabs of glue to keep everything in place. If the scene is outdoors, have her use twigs for trees or to build fences. The sky is the limit!
Speaking of the sky, a nice way to give the diorama an even more 3-D look is to hang things from the top of the box with fishing line (cotton ball clouds or miniature birds, for example).
