Sculpt a beaver's lodge and dam for the pond diorama

Left, beaver's lodge. Right, beavers' dam. Both made from twigs and stones found in our yard.

       There are many facts about beavers that parents or teachers can share while young students craft a beaver, it's dam and it's lodge. Children will enjoy learning about the materials a beaver uses to craft their very own safe environments. 

• The biggest beaver dam in the world! - An excellent film for kids to learn about beavers.
• The return of California golden beaver - The keystone species 
• Beaver: Back to the Future! - the removal and now the restoration. . .
• Beavers as Engineers -  'the smartest things in fur pants!'
  

We've added a lodge and dam built by ''beavers''
in the deeper parts of our pretend pond.

 Supply List: for both projects below

• twigs from your yard
• paper mache pulp
• wood glue or hot glue with adult supervision
• acrylics for painting the paper pulp
  
• kitchen foil
• scrap cardboard
• masking tape
• recycled paper egg carton
• stones
• plastic plant life (optional)
  

Step-by-Step Instructions: The Beaver's Dam

1. Cut a scrap piece of cardboard to the exact size and shape of the pretend dam you would like to construct.
2. Cover both top and bottom of the cardboard with masking tape.
3. Hot glue the largest of dry twigs and the small stones to the cardboard. 
4. Mix together a little paper mache pulp according to the directions on it's packaging. Push this pulp between the sticks and stones. Think of the material as the ''mud'' used by beavers to construct a dam. Let this pulp dry overnight and paint the mud surface of your beavers dam brown. Leave the other elements natural, unpainted if you like.
5. Tuck in a few clippings, from a plastic plant pick, to stick between the twigs for the pretend beavers to munch on later.

Left, start with a cardboard cut-out. Right glue on twigs to begin with.

 

Left, hot glue on a few small stones. Right fill in the gaps with paper pulp. Once the pulp dries paint it.

Step-by-Step Instructions: The Beaver's Lodge

1. Cut one paper egg cup from the recycled egg carton leaving as much of the side walls in tact as possible.
2. Turn this over and glue it open side down on top of a scrap of cardboard. Glue additional scraps from the egg carton lid to cover up any holes in the side walls. In this way, you will make a hollow shelter without openings for the beaver's lodge.
3. Use masking tape to strengthen the construction altogether. 
4. Cut a small opening through the bottom of the cardboard for the beaver to enter only if the lodge is picked up from the dry pond. The reasoning for the building of the lodge in this way is to teach students that beavers lodges can only be accessed from underneath the ''water.'' This prevents many invasion of predators like: foxes, wolves and wild cats from entering the water logged lodge and killing the beaver's young.
5. Next, hot glue twigs from the outside to decorate the beaver's lodge. 
6. Glue on a few small rocks as well.
7. Mix together a little paper mache pulp according to the directions on it's packaging. Push this pulp between the sticks and stones. Think of the material as the ''mud'' used by beavers to construct a dam. Let this pulp dry overnight and paint the mud surface of your beavers dam brown. Leave the other elements natural, unpainted if you like.
8. Tuck in a few clippings, from a plastic plant pick, to stick between the twigs for the pretend beavers to munch on later if you like. This part of the project is optional.
   

Make the hollow interior of the lodge using a recycled egg carton.

Glue sticks and stones to the top of the egg carton cut-out and then fill in the cracks with paper pulp.

Learn about the legacy of beavers...