Projects completed by children in a classroom environment help to reinforce materials and facts taught in a fun and educational way. When students study animals, shoe boxes can be used to create projects and activities that will encourage students to learn new facts and create the best presentation for their classmates. The project students choose to complete with their shoe box will depend on the criteria they need to meet, what animals they are studying and the time required to complete the project.
Diorama
Have students select an animal of interest to them. Allow the students to use a shoe box to create a diorama to showcase the animal they have chosen. Students should use construction paper, markers and other craft materials to create a habitat for the animal in their shoe boxes. Dioramas should replicate to the best of their ability the animal itself and re-create the animals habitat, such as the desert, the rain forest or the ocean. Have each student place a large index card on the back of the shoe box diorama with important or interesting facts about the animal he has chosen to represent.
Shadow Box Theater
Children can use a shoe box to create a play or mini skit to present animal facts. Children can use construction paper and wooden craft sticks to create their animal characters and decorate the shoe box to look like a play stage like the one found on Crayola's website. Have the children include various important facts about their animal in their play or create a monologue through the eyes of their animal describing what it's like to be the animal.
Organizer
Keep a student's desk organized while she is learning at the same time by creating an organizer to keep class assignments, home work or important documents in. Have students cut one of the long sides off of a shoe box. Decorate the shoe boxes with construction paper and allow them to draw pictures of a particular animal or group of animals that live in a particular habitat. Have students write facts about the animal or animals on an index card. This project, based off one found on the San Diego Zoo's website, can be a graded project and a useful resource to your student's desk.
Animal Home
Students can choose animals or a teacher can assign one for each student. Have children create a replica in their shoe box as to what an animal's home may look like. For example, a bird lives in a nest, so pine straw, sticks and twigs should be used. A mole or rabbit will create a burrow under the ground, so a tunnel should be formed in dirt for the animals to burrow in. Children may need extended time on this project and different craft materials may need to be used in order to properly complete this shoe box activity.
Tags: construction paper, facts about, Have students, shoe boxes, their animal
