Virtual Book Club for Kids – Barn Dance Diorama

With the new school year, comes a new year of the Virtual Book Club for Kids. Each month we explore a different children’s author and create activities, crafts or food to go along with the books we discover. We aren’t in this book club alone, nope. The book club involves over 20 other blogs and you too. Just read a book with your kids, with our monthly featured author and share your activity with us…it’s that simple. This month’s featured author is Bill Martin Jr. My daughter and I read Bill Martin Jr.’s book “Barn Dance” and we created our very own barn dance diorama.

I have been wanting to make a diorama with my daughter for a long time now. A diorama is a 3-D miniature filled with objects and a painted background, arranged to create a lifelike scene. I love the intricacy of some artist’s dioramas and the simplicity of others. I knew we could come up with a fun diorama for Barn Dance. I was right.

First, we found our box. We opted for an empty box that had been used to store empty mason jars. The box was the perfect size for this project.

Next, I set about painting the background. I looked to Bill Martin Jr.’s book for inspiration and tried to recreate the interior of the barn where the dance takes place. I even used glow in the dark paint on the lantern and the moon…looks pretty cool at night.

My daughter drew all the characters; the scarecrow, an owl, the pig and the tiny mouse (I was responsible for the sheep). When cutting out the characters my daughter cut a large base at the bottom. The base piece was then folded toward the back of the character…thus creating a sort of kickstand that propped them up.

Finally, we positioned everyone in place. My daughter had the brilliant idea to cut a slit in the cardboard and place the mouse on a rung of the ladder. Now, in a true diorama we would have glued everyone in place…but, my daughter couldn’t resist playing and dancing everyone around in the barn. When she’s had a few days to play I’ll glue all the barn dancers in place.

Clearly, we had a lot of fun with this Bill Martin Jr. book and truthfully we could have had just as much fun with many of his other books. Now it’s time to see what the other book club bloggers were inspired to create and play. Please be sure to visit the other blogs, the Virtual Book Club for Kids Facebook page and the NEW Virtual Book Club for Kids website. If you have a post featuring a Bill Martin Jr. book, feel free to link it up.

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