DIORAMA CONTEST FOR BLOGGERS

I love dioramas! Today, in browsing one of the dozens of blogs I check on daily, I read about a diorama created by a first grader, the daughter of the 'wife' who's blog is "The Farmer Takes A Wife (This One)". Her subject was the desert hare and it's habitat.

Do any of you remember making dioramas in grade school? I know Zach has made an Indian village one. I think I may have made one in elementary school, but don't really remember what it was. Well, anyway, now's your chance to do it again (if you did one before) or to make your first one ever! The subject of your diorama can be whatever you want - ancient Egypt, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Robots Taking Over the World, A Day at the Office, Sock Monkeys Gone Beserk - or anything! Well, let's keep it G-Rated, okay?

Just in case you are not sure what a diorama entails, here's a dictionary definition: A three-dimensional miniature or life-size scene in which figures, stuffed wildlife, or other objects are arranged in a naturalistic setting against a painted background. Life size, as in a museum display and as far as 'painted' - not necessarily, in this case. What I have in mind is more like, contained and movable. In other words, my Barbie scenes would not count, as they are usually done in a bookcase and therefore, not able to be picked up and moved whole.

These photos are not 'dioramas' either, since they are outside and not able to be picked up, scene and all and moved all together to be set down elsewhere.
This one is Shabree posed behind a 'fairy house' in a flower bed.
And this one is a photo of Janet and Stacy on a letterboxing trip to Mustand Island. Stacy was a vacation visitor from Australia.

The dioramas I remember seeing long ago, usually were set up inside an open sided shoe box, and included small figures, objects cut from paper or cardboard, paper mache created items, greenery...things like that. Zachary's Native American/Western Pioneer Diorama was created flat on a piece of plywood, I think. It had a plastic teepee, a plastic buckboard wagon, and used glued rocks, paint, a twig campfire and things like that. But besides these ways to make a diorama, there are many, many other ways too. Be creative! Think outside the box...or inside the box - either way. And the 'box' if you use one, can be any size - tiny or huge. You can google 'diorama' and find many examples.

The Rules:
1. You have to have a blog, so that your diorama can be posted there, and everyone can see it, and read what you have to say about it. Be sure to explain it, pointing out details that we might not notice otherwise. (It doesn't have to be wordy if you don't want it to be.)

2. It has to be transportable - so that the whole diorama is able to be picked up, whole, and moved around. Not because you will be transporting it, necessarily, but because that is a major part of what my definition of a diorama is. You know - as if it had to make the trip, in a bumpy school bus from your house to the school in one piece.

3. Post your photo(s) to your blog anytime between Sunday, June 25 through Saturday, July 1. No sooner (you don't want to scare off the competition) and no later.

4. Oops! I almost forgot...The contest is open to ALL ages. Children can enter through their parents, grandparents, or other relatives blogs. Oh, and children can get all the help they want from anyone. The diorama can be a group project. Adults are urged to enter as well. I envisioned this as a fun thing for people like me - you know, slightly off-kilter adults.

Think originality, fun, humor (or not), detail... The winner will be selected by a panel of 'experts', to be named later. There will be a prize, only I am not sure what it will be yet. I do have an idea, though.

Does this sound like fun? I hope so. If you do plan or hope to enter, please leave a comment so I'll know if there is at least some interest.