In our ‘Cave Creatures’ issue, we asked you to design a cave diorama. What fantastic entries you sent us! So many of you put an incredible effort into creating cave creatures and their dark and mysterious habitats.

Congratulations to our four winners!

Billy, age 7, Minety

First we painted the inside of a shoe box with grey paint. Then we put chicken wire inside to make the wall shape. We then used tissue paper to paper mache it. We used egg boxes to make stalactites. We used the glue gun to make colonies of bacteria or ‘snotties’… We used Fimo clay to make cave creatures… We put blue water which was made of tissue paper and some thin white strips to create a foamy waterfall… I think the best part of the cave is the green eyes staring out of the back. They might belong to a dragon!

Elliot, age 8, Newark

My cave diorama is made out of Modroc, chicken wire and polystyrene. I painted it to look like limestone. In my cave there is a colony of bats and cockroaches eat their guano. There is a salamander and blind cave fish in the underground stream. There is also a blind beetle and a cave spider. There are no plants inside the cave, just a bit of algae and fungus. At the entrance to the cave, there is moss growing because of the sunlight. My favourite animal in the cave is the salamander with black spots.

Alexander, age 8, Dunmurry

"Smouldering Cave"

My cave is called the Smouldering Cave and a friendly, playful dragon lives there. The cave hasn't been discovered yet because people think there is a volcano there with all the smoke coming out. The dragon loves collecting gemstones and the cave is full of them. It looks really sparkly, especially at night. 

Eva, age 9, Sheffield

You enter my cave from ground level descending down the winding tube like tunnel into the cavern. The spooky cave features bats, maggots, large beasties, glow worms and a fossilised dinosaur. 

Here are some more spooky creations from our readers:

Oliver Melton, age 10, Chichester

"Bat Cave"

I made my bat cave from a papier mache balloon. It was really fun to make: it was really messy. I made the glue around the balloon from flour, water and a little bit of salt.

Eden, age 9, Aberystwyth

 Emilio, age 8, Machen

Amelia, age 7, Tickhill

There’s an owl, bat, spider and dragon inside and it’s all made from items from our garden or recycling bin!

Eben, age 7, St. Bees

Eva, age 7, Leamington Spa

I made my model using paper, paint, air drying clay and glue.

Spot the following:

- a lion with a spine bone from his last dinner

- an early man with a beautiful bonfire

- a fish in the cave's little lake

- a really cute bat hanging on the left side

- a green snake (hopefully the early man will notice on time!)

- cave painting by early men

Thank you and it was a lot of fun preparing it!

 

Charlotte, age 8, London

My cave is made of a cardboard box painted black and paper stalactites and stalagmites. It has rocks and a little stream. It also has bats and a lizard which are made out of cardboard.