Creepy Crafts: Spooky Forest Diorama

Halloween is months away, but we don’t mind adding a touch of spooky to spring. A spooky forest diorama was just what we needed!

We built this 3D craft with mostly recycled and found materials. It gave us an excuse to go for a walk (for the sticks) and alleviated some of our guilt about having one too many Amazon boxes in the recycling.

Materials

• black paint
• cardboard box or box lid
• sticks and twigs
• googly eyes
• embellishments (bugs, construction paper, etc.)
• scissors
• E6000 craft adhesive or hot glue

Spooky Forest Diorama Background

What makes this forest diorama spooky is what may be lurking the darkness! We used a generous amount of flat black paint and covered the entire inside of the boxes and lids. We had to take special care to ensure the corners were fully covered and no light was peeking through. One of the boxes needed two coats.

While the backgrounds were drying, we laid out the sticks to get an idea of how we wanted them to fit in the scene. Some we had to trim to fit the height of the box.

Once the paint was dry, we glued into place with hot glue. We left them to dry overnight.

The next day, the real fun began! We added embellishments, like googly eyes and spiders. You could also use fall leaves and a harvest moon, millipedes or other creepy crawlies, or even some glow-in-the-dark stars to make any number of spooky scenes.

These dioramas really come alive when you turn out the lights! That’s when the whites of the eyes pop!

What’s your favorite spooky craft?