Tips on Making a Book Report Diorama in a Shoebox

While book reports are often a compulsory part of English class, spicing up your project by turning it into a three-dimensional object can often help emphasize important themes and characters that may be confusing within the text. You can do this by building a diorama.

1. Hand-Made Construction

   • While it may be time-consuming to execute, making the majority of the characters and settings in your shoe box diorama by hand will help improve your grade. While a pre-made figurine or tree may look more orderly, crafting all of the characters and settings by hand will help illustrate the amount of effort and time you have put into your book report diorama. In addition, you will have complete control over the elements of your diorama book report, allowing you to maintain a high level of accuracy and detail.

   Textual Information

   • While you are turning your book report into a visual representation, this does not mean you will not need some text to help explain the scene you are creating. Writing an abridged book report in addition to your shoebox diorama will help supplement vital information that might go unexplained by simply looking at your diorama. Using a small font size and scissors, cut out the text portion of your diorama, pasting it onto the sides of the shoebox, so individuals can read it as they look at it.

   Sketching

   • Prior to crafting your book report diorama, it is important to visually map out the key scenes and characters you are going to be displaying. Drawing a sketch using accurate shoebox dimensions will help you get a sense of space and where exactly your characters and objects will go. Once you have made the proper adjustments to your sketch, you can then begin crafting the actual diorama. Using a pencil to draw the sketch will allow you to make corrections easily and effectively.

   Protection

   • After completing your diorama, it is important to make sure the characters and setting will not shift or be harmed while transporting or displaying your box. To ensure proper protection, glue down all of the major figurines and objects that could potentially move within the diorama shoebox. After these are sealed, place a piece of clear plastic wrap tightly around the shoe box, making it possible for individuals to see clearly into the diorama without being able to touch or damage anything.