Circus Diorama and Puppet Theater
Make an exciting circus shoebox diorama featuring your favorite circus animals and circus performers. With a few added steps, you can also turn your diorama into a fun circus puppet theater.
Featured Crafts
Supplies Needed
- Shoebox or large box
- White construction paper
- Colored markers, crayons or poster paint
- Acrylic paint
- Cardboard
- Pipe cleaner or toothpick
- Paint brush
- Scissors
- White glue
- Transparent tape or masking tape
- Paper cup and small boxes
- Glue gun (optional)
STEPS
1Prepare the box.
Find a shoebox or a large box. If the lid is attached to the box, trim the lid off.
2Fix any open flaps in place.
If using a box other than a shoebox, cut out the box's front panel. Use tape or glue gun to fix any open flaps in place.
3Paint the outside of the box.
Paint the outside of the box with acrylic paint. You can paint the box with a dark solid color like I did or paint it with circus stripes (red/white or red/yellow). In case you already like the original color of your box, then you can just leave it unpainted.
4Paint the inside of the box.
Color the inside of your box by either painting it or covering it with colored paper, or doing a combination of both. I did a combination—painted the walls and covered the bottom (floor) with paper.
5Make a pair of paper walls.
We want to make a paper circus tent frame that will be attached to the front of the box. This consists of three sections—a pair of side walls and a top.
To make the paper walls, cut out a pair of very tall trapezoids from white construction paper. The height of these trapezoids should be at least an inch taller than your box diorama.
6Tape the paper walls.
Tape the pair of paper walls to the left and right side of the box, making sure that the trapezoid's long straight edge is aligned with the side of the box. Fold the excess length on top to make a tab.
7Make the circus tent top.
Draw and cut out a circus tent top out of white construction paper. Estimate its size in reference to your box, including the paper walls.
8Make circus stripes.
Remove the paper walls from the box. Draw circus stripes on the paper walls as well as on the circus top. You can use colored markers, crayons, tempera or poster paint. Red and yellow, red and white, as well as purple and yellow are popular circus color themes but you can always make yours as unique as you like.
9Glue the paper walls.
Once the paint dries, glue the pair of paper walls permanently onto the sides of your box, taking note to position them like you did in Step 6. Glue the top tabs onto the top of the box.
10Glue the circus top.
The best way to glue the circus top is with the box lying down. Place another box, a pile of books, or any object underneath the paper top to prop it up while waiting for the glue to dry.
11Glue a Z-shaped tab.
When the glue dries, check if the circus top can stand upright on its own. If the paper you used is not thick or stiff enough, you can glue a Z-shaped cardboard stand at the back to prop it up. Glue the upper tab onto the paper circus top and the lower tab onto the box.
12Add a flag.
And of course, no circus tent is complete without a flag. Cut out a paper triangle and glue this on one end of a toothpick or pipe cleaner. Tape or glue this flag at the back of the paper circus top.
13Make some circus characters.
Draw, color, and cut out some circus characters. You can actually start doing this step while waiting for paint or glue to dry in the previous steps. We also have these circus printables that you can use:
14Arrange the characters.
Arrange the circus characters inside your box to get an idea on how your busy circus will look like and where each character will be positioned. Temporarily stick them onto the walls of your box with masking tape. You can also use small boxes or paper cups (trimmed to their desired height) for some of your characters to stand on.
15Glue the characters.
Glue the characters that you intend to put on the background. You can glue additional details like paper cut-outs to make platforms for your characters to stand on.
You can also glue some characters behind or in front of the paper walls. Check out the ringmaster from the previous step's photo.
16Make tabs for the characters.
Make L-shaped top or bottom tabs for the rest of the circus characters. Those with top tabs can be attached to the ceiling (e.g. acrobats) and those with bottom tabs can be glued onto the diorama's floor.
For large paper characters such as an elephant for instance, you may need to use a Z-shaped tab in addition to the L-shaped tab to prop the character up.
17Finalize your diorama.
Position the characters inside your diorama. Glue the tabs to the top or bottom of the box. If you're using small boxes or paper cups as additional props, you will need to paint them before gluing them onto your diorama. Have fun!
More Ideas
Create a tightrope.
Make a tightrope using a string or a piece of pipe cleaner. Simply tape the ends of the string inside your box walls. A piece of pipe cleaner is best positioned at the corners.
Make movable characters.
Fixing the paper characters in place is a great way to make a diorama, especially if it is going to be a school project. But if you're doing this craft just for fun, you don't need to glue the characters onto the box. With movable characters, this fabulous shoebox circus can be a fertile playground for a child's imagination.
Create circus paper dolls or puppets.
Another option for movable characters is to make them into Circus Paper Dolls or circus stick puppets. Make a stick puppet by gluing or taping a craft stick or drinking straw at the back of each paper character.
Craft a circus puppet theater.
Making a circus puppet theater is similar to crafting a circus diorama except you need to cut a slot on top of the box.
Make a drinking straw handle on each character to turn them into puppets. Tape the straw at the back, close to the character's head. If you need a longer handle, connect 2 drinking straws end-to-end.
Move the puppets through the slot on top of your puppet theater. Make your own circus story or do a puppet show based on your favorite circus-themed book.
Create some lighting for an awesome puppet show. Spotlight your circus characters by asking someone to hold a small flashlight through the slot or you can tape the flashlight securely on one corner of the slot.
