Family Food Favorites

crayola supplies

Twistables® Colored Pencils
Markers
Model Magic®
No-Run School Glue
Pointed Tip Scissors
Construction Paper

household supplies

recycled boxes
craft sticks
paper towels
coffee filters
chenille sticks

Why

Combine three important family activities--dinner time, reading, and craft time--to create a fun diorama of your family’s favorite foods and traditions.

Steps

1. This is a terrific craft project for the entire family! Discuss your favorite foods, traditions, and special family times. Read a book together that celebrates food and family, such as Maya Angelou’s Angelina of Italy. Use your imagination to create a fun diorama depicting your special moments. Ours shows dinnertime. Use your imagination to make your diorama.
2. Decorate the scene. Remove the lid or have an adult cut off one side of a box. Fold and cut paper with Crayola® Scissors to cover it inside and outside. Draw a background scene with Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils and Crayola Washable Bold Markers. Attach the background to the box with Crayola School Glue. Air-dry the glue.
3. Build furniture and structures. We used craft sticks, notched craft sticks, chenille stems and Crayola Model Magic to craft a picnic table, chairs, and a grape arbor. Model Magic that is fresh out of the pack sticks to itself and craft sticks.
4. Sculpt family members and favorite foods. Some techniques to try with Model Magic: roll, flatten and knead in color with Crayola Washable Markers. Cut strips with scissors. Crayola Naturals colors are perfect for skin and hair, even miniature pasta or potatoes!
5. Add finishing touches. Glue the grape arbor to the box. Add chenille stem vines. Color grapes and flowers on coffee filters. Cut them out. Glue them all around your arbor. Air-dry the glue.
6. Make a tablecloth by coloring a paper towel. Set your table with all of your favorite family foods and MANGIA!

When & Where

"My daughter made a diorama for a heritage day project. All of us pitched in. We had a good laugh making ourselves. This project really spurred conversation about our family traditions."
- Shupriya B., parent of ages 8 and 10.

"Our grandchildren made a diorama of our Thanksgiving feast. We used it as the table centerpiece. What a big hit!"
- Isabel S., grandmother of ages 6, 9, and 12.

Interesting Info

Pasta is a favorite food in the United States. In 2004, 1.3 million pounds (650 tons or 660 metric tons) of pasta were sold in grocery stores. If you lined up this much spaghetti in 16-oz. (.45 kg) packages, it would circle the Earth’s equator almost nine times!

Safety Guidelines

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.

Wood—By its nature, wood is rough and may contain splinters or sharp points