Project Diorama : Scene of Ocean Creatures

Early in October, we received a notification from Jon's preschool that we were to complete a project for the year end concert. It was to be a combined effort from the parents and the child and there was detail on what possible materials we could use to create the diorama of ocean creatures. I don't know about you but "diorama" was a new word to me. I had to google to understand what it really meant. Diorama meant a scene of a particular theme. Done usually with shoe box or cardboard box.

I got an A4 paper cardboard box home the next day and went shopping for materials at Daiso IMM. Indeed, Daiso was a good choice to go because they offered a varieties of materials for DIY handicraft work and each item was a standard $2. Great for the pocket too!

I decided to start early and work bit by bit. So each weekend morning, I would get Jon to do some simple painting. It was a deliberate plan to do a little of the project before his morning shower so I would not have to clean him up again.

painting the octopus' body

the torso of the octopuses

We started with the octopuses, using toilet roll as the torso. The Crayola kid's paints come in handy and I got the paint brushes from Ikea. The colour was chosen by Jonathan and he painted the toilet rolls all by himself.

doing the head of octopus

The styrofoam balls were from Daiso and I stuck a toothpick for Jon to hold the ball while painting.

starfish demonstration

Then I used soft clay and showed Jon how to knead a starfish out of it.

starfish prototype

He wasn't keen to handle the soft clay so I did most of the starfish work. At another evening, I decided we could do seaweeds for our project. This time, he did the hands on.

rolling

kneading

our seaweeds

Jon prepared balls of green soft clay while I figured out how to create a seaweed. I was rather pleased with the outcome although it was far from perfection.

fishes fishes

We also had little fish which Jon painted the paper while I cut and stuff cotton wool in the tummy to fatten it. We also worked together to paste little wiggle eyes on the ocean creatures.

fish ready to swim

I did the wiring and stringing and decided our fish would be swimming freely.

ensembly

Then we started to ensemble our ocean creatures but I ditched the box concept to go for an open view.

touching up

happy with his work

final product

Jon spreaded the blue sand and I covered the box lid with blue felt cloth. We added little green furry balls as our moss at the base of our seaweeds. The octopuses and starfish were easy to manipulate but I had some trouble making the wire more sturdy to let the fish swim freely.


Jon was proud of his work and while this handicraft had a juvenile presentation, this was the best effort from me and my Jon. Anyway, this was a preschooler's project with parental involvement, so the kiddish look would be inevitable.


Throughout this project, Matt participated with us. He would sit besides Jon and not interfere in what Jon was doing. He was contented to play with a little paint, to draw the fins for the fish, touching the furry balls and observing what we were doing. I thought he made a good team player too!


We handed our project 3 days before the dateline and now, I wonder what surprise would I get from his year end concert.