The Shoebox Diorama of Congo Rain Forest

Guest Post by my 9-year Old Daughter, Rylie, my co-author at Kids e-Connection blog.

I made this Congo Rain Forest diorama as a science project for school.  It came out pretty well and I got 100 on it.  For the materials I went to Hobby Lobby. I managed to find some things that would go well with the project.  I got a material called, Clump Foliage, and that was used for the leaves, bushes, treetops, and shrubs.  I also picked up a little pack of rain forest animals. I only used three animals, I focused more on the  hippopotamus, the mountainous gorilla, and the okapi, which is a rain forest deer.  Then, I hot glued those down, I ended up putting the hippo on the top of the mountain by the waterfall, the gorilla munching on the greenery kind of hidden behind a tree, and lastly the okapi out in the open going to drink some water.

 Now we will take it back to the beginning and I will show you, or tell you in this case, how I made the mountain for the waterfall to drizzle down.I first took drew out a design for the mountain.  Then I found some scraps of card board and hot glued them in the formation of my design.  I made a paste with flour and glue, and watered it down with some warm water. I ripped some strips of magazines and used a technique called paper mache.  I covered it with the glue coated paper and let it dry.

 Next I tested out how I was going to make the waterfall. So, I took some wax paper and cut a big square.  I then took my hot glue gun and made wiggly lines next to each other on it and it formed like a stream.  I made two big streams, one little square, and a big patch for the lake area.  I ended up using about four sticks of glue, but it was worth it for the great end result. I had to add some miniature jungle trees to make it look like a jungle and not just a waterfall.  I succeeded by making them with little twigs and the clump foliage.  I took some twigs from outside and hot glued some of the foliage on. I made four and hot glued those down.Then I scattered some foliage around to look like vines and other plants. 

 I had printed out a few sheets of facts beforehand and made some information sheets out of green card stock and simply wrote down some facts either side if the box.  I found this map of Africa and glued it to the back and circled where the Congo is located.

 I also made fact sheets on the animals too.  Again with the card stock I wrote some facts.  O covered those with foliage and glued them on.  I put the hippo facts on the rock face, the gorilla facts on the wall with some vines, and the okapi facts by the water.

Here are the gorilla facts...

And the okapi's...

And finally, the hippo's...

I hope that you like my writing and presentation.  Please feel free to leave  me your thoughts on what I could improve on as an aspiring  writer and  artist.  Thank you!

Family

You don't choose your family. 

They are God's gift to you, 

as you are to them. 

-Desmond Tutu -

Sketched by Ms. Burrito when she was 4 years old

Ms. Burrito's family's sketch when she was 5.

Mr. Burrito's Family's sketch when he was six years old.  He entered this in a contest.

The greatest thing in family life

 is to take a hint 

when a hint is
intended

and
not to
take a hint 

when a hint isn't intended.

 -Robert Frost-

Rob Falsini

Have you ever stumbled  Rob Falsini's music video on Facebook?  He has a  beautiful voice .  I  was watching one of his street performances and man, his voice is amazing.  Today, I read anupdate on his  FB  home page that he just became a GRA Artist and will be produced by their pop/rock label, GRA Red.  I am sure that he would be thrilled to finally  record his music through a recording company.  He'll be  around  so many music instruments and  accessories like   mf and other cool  music   tools to better record his songs.  He did a cover of the "Chasing Cars" and his voice is  so good to listen to.  If you haven't seen it, play the video below.

Charcoal Painting

A good friend of mine did this charcoal painting of my husband and I. It's always amazing to me how people can be so talented in sketching or drawing people's images. Her husband made two shades of the photo and here it is.  I kind of like the last one the most.

Thanks sis Mai and Edwin!

 I would like to have this printed  because both  of our children has this type of photo and  I would like for  hubby and I to have one as well to hang it in our family wall of portraits.  Here's the original photo, what do you think?

I wish  everyone a great   day!

Family Memory Cube

Transferring my  office to the basement was put on hold.  Hubby can't find time to really help me with the project since he is very busy with his  studies.  He also wants to consult a local electrician to find out how we can  safely put a home entertainment down there so that when the kids wants to play with their toys, they will have something to watch  or listen to for entertainment.  

Meanwhile, I want to  share this project that my daughter did.  Their teacher want them to make a poster  with memorable pictures.  He had this idea of  putting the pictures in all sides of a shoe box.  She covered the box with a wrapping paper and my husband printed the pictures and she pasted it there.

 I think that it turned out really well.

 I was a little bit  worried that  she might get in trouble since she did it differently but  thank goodness, she didn't.

I am glad that she always thinks outside of the box.  She make sure to push her ability to do things.

Hubby's Artistic Side

My husband's family are all inclined to arts.  His brother Rick is really good in drawing cars.  His late brother Dave was really good in  fixing and painting cars.  His late brother Harold was really good in building and construction.  His sister  Crystal is basically a jack of all trades.  She goods in constructing, building, painting, sewing, you name it.  My husband  can do a lot of things too and  one thing that I like is  he can draw.

He doesn't think that he can draw but  based from what I see, he can.

Most of my daughter's artistic side is from my  husband's family's trait although my paternal grandfather was also a kind of artist as he  craved woods when he was younger.  He used to  make  religious carvings and he plays  a lot of music instrument.

What do you think?  Do you think he can draw?  Oh did I ever tell you that he  played bass  when he was a teen? I have been encouraging him to play again, maybe it would inspire our son to  do the same.

Bleeding Crayons

This is one of the many art projects that my daughter worked on during this past summer break. She did a lot but she is very fond of this one.  I think she  was inspired by her classmate who won an art contest using crayon as the medium for her art piece.

I would like to put this in the frame if I can find the right size.