Book Report in a Box

I would have to do book reports during my elementary years, and several times I had to find a way to be  "creative" while presenting my book.  My mom helped me make a type of "shadow box" for my report.  Inside of the box, (a shoe box works best) a scene is recreated from the book.  My mom is very artistic and amazing when it comes to this kind of stuff.  As you will see soon enough…I am lacking in this department. But whether you're an artist, have lots of time, little time, you're a mom on the go, or you just want something fun to do; I would highly recommend doing this activity.

My son recently read,  Inside Out, and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. The scene he wanted to make in the shoe box is of the main character standing by her favorite Papaya tree.

First take your box and add a hole to look through. You're going to want to check your "scene" as you go.

Cut a hole in the top of the lid to allow light into your box.  How much light you have is going to depend on how big you make the hole.  As you can see, I covered it with clear plastic wrap.  I like to color the plastic with a permanent marker to give the box a cool light inside.  Of course this hole is poorly cut.  I am sure you can do a better job!

Start decorating the inside of your box with whatever you want.  I painted the construction paper and glued it to the sides of the box to create a sunset.  Everything else is made of either tissue paper or card stock.  But don't stop there, the sky is the limit when gathering and using different materials.  I used a glue gun on some items (the tree in particular) but mostly used white glue.

With these types of boxes it is all about the detail. I tried to do perspective type angles and sizing while putting all of the pieces together. 

Here is what it looks like when you look through the hole.

I would suggest coving the underside of the lid of the box with paper (being careful not to cover up the ceiling hole) because it looks cleaner. 

Overall, my son and I had a lot of fun putting this together.  Something so simple got a lot of "oohs and ahhs" from his sisters and dad.  I am excited to see what my son's classmates have to say when he shows them his box.