How to Make a Project of a Rainforest Diorama

Decorate the bottom of your diorama to represent the rainforest floor.

Rainforests, dense ecosystems that get a large amount of rainfall each year, hold over half of the world’s species of plants and animals. While a diorama cannot encompass all species in a rainforest, it should provide a good overview of multiple species. Create a diorama to represent the four layers of the rainforest and the plant and animal species that each layer contains.

Things You'll Need

• Three shoeboxes
• Large sheet of cardboard
• Construction paper
• Wrapping paper tube
• Leaves
• Sticks
• Pictures of animals
• Hot glue gun
• White glue
• Masking tape
• Scissors

Instructions

Beginning the Diorama

1. Glue a shoebox to a large sheet of cardboard so that the open end faces to the side. Attach three shoeboxes to the top of the shoebox using masking tape so that the open side of each shoebox faces the same way.

2. Cut a hole big enough to fit a cardboard wrapping paper tube through in the top of the highest shoebox. Cut holes of the same size in the same place in the remaining shoeboxes.

3. Stick a cardboard wrapping paper tube through the holes so it sits on the bottom of the last shoebox. Cut the wrapping paper tube so only 3 inches of it sticks out of the top shoebox.

Rainforest Floor

1. Glue vines and leaves purchased at a craft store to the bottom layer of the diorama and on the cardboard attached to it. Place small twigs and sticks on top of the vines and leaves to represent fallen pieces from other layers.

2. Print out pictures of tigers, jaguars, giant anteaters and okapis and use hot glue to attach them to the leaves and sticks.

3. Add a few drops of hot glue to represent the dew and wetness of the rainforest floor.

Understory Layer

1. Cut out trees with large leaves from construction paper and glue them to the bottom of the second shoebox.

2. Print out pictures of tree frogs, leopards, hummingbirds and random rainforest insects to glue to the leaves.

3. Shape ginger and passionflower plants from tissue paper and glue onto the layer.

Canopy Layer

1. Cut three slits in the top shoebox. Make three trees out of construction paper and place their trunks through the slits in the shoebox.

2. Glue leaves and sticks to the inside of the third shoebox to represent the trees of the canopy layer. Print out pictures of snakes, spider monkeys, sloths and lemurs and glue them to the tree limbs.

3. Glue leaves to the underside of the top of the third shoebox to create the umbrella effect of the canopy layer.

Emergent Layer

1. Cut out tree leaves from construction paper and glue them to the exposed wrapping paper tube.

2. Glue pictures of toucans, bats and butterflies to the trees.

3. Make two or three small model orchids from tissue paper and glue them to the top of the third shoebox.

Finishing the Diorama

1. Label each layer of the rainforest by writing its name on a piece of paper 1 inch tall by 2 inches wide. Glue or tape the names to the appropriate layers.

2. Type up facts about each layer of the rainforest and print them out.

3. Glue the facts about the understory, canopy and emergent layers to the sides of the shoebox. Attach the facts about the forest layer to a portion of the cardboard surrounding the shoeboxes.

References

• Missouri Botanical Garden: Exploring the Tropical Rainforest
• Storm the Castle: Rainforest Diorama