How to Make a Rain Forest Biome in a Shoe Box

Explore the rainforest's biome with a shoebox diorama.

Rainforests, teeming with unusual plant and animal life, rarely fail to spark a child's imagination and interest. The rainforest's biome consists of the forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layers. You can help a child learn about the rainforest by using a shoebox to build a rainforest diorama with him. As the child builds the diorama, he will learn about the animals and plants that live in each layer of the rainforest.

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Large shoebox
Small plastic animals
White glue
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors
Twigs with leaves, various sizes
Construction paper or tempera paints
Markers

Instructions

- 1
  
  Set the shoebox on one side so it stands vertically. Paint the bottom of the shoebox dark green. Paint light green mountains halfway up the box, and paint blue sky above the mountains. If you do not have paint, glue construction paper to the shoebox instead.
- 2
  
  Use markers to draw layers of trees in the background. Just above the bottom of the shoebox, draw short, bush-like plants. Draw tall, brown tree trunks that almost reach the top of the box. Use green markers to draw the leaves on the trees.
- 3
  
  Glue small leaves, real or artificial, to the bottom of the shoebox. This is the rainforest's floor. Glue plastic insects and small rocks to the floor with hot glue.
- 4
  
  Glue leafy twigs of various sizes to the inside of the box. Shorter twigs represent the trees of the understory and canopy layers. The tallest twigs represent the 200-foot trees of the emergent layer. If you do not have twigs, use artificial plants. The plants used in fish aquariums are ideal for this.
- 5
  
  Use hot glue to attach plastic insects and frogs to the twigs in the understory layer. Glue more frogs in the canopy layer, as well as plastic snakes and birds. Add plastic monkeys, birds and butterflies to the emergent layer.