Lucy Owl was studying one of her favorite encyclopedias when she read about an interesting object called a tunnel book. “Hmm,” Lucy mused, “I think I would like to make one of these. But what sort of story should I tell?” Looking around her cozy cottage for inspiration, Lucy’s gaze fell upon the well-worn copy of Turtles & You sitting on her bookshelf.

Like many of her animal friends, Lucy is a member of the Hazel Village Turtle Society. Turtle Society Scouts go on s-l-o-w hikes through the forest, observing turtles and discussing conservation of turtle habitats. They earn badges for things like spotting hidden turtle trails or a rare hatching egg. The Turtle Society meets all year round, but in the winter it is harder to find turtles, so they mostly meet indoors and slowly reminisce about turtles they’ve seen.

“Our turtle neighbors will be hibernating soon,” remarked Lucy, looking out her window at the leaves that were beginning to turn pretty autumn colors. “I think I will make a tunnel book for the Turtle Society to enjoy in the colder months, when there are no turtles for us to spot outdoors.” What a marvelous idea, Lucy!

Lucy brought her finished tunnel book to the next Turtle Society meeting in the Lodge. The other animals were quite excited and impressed! Lucas Rabbit, who is the most enthusiastic Turtle Scout in the Village, was so thrilled that he hopped up and down with his paws above his head. "It's almost as amazing as that time when I saw a rare spotted turtle!" Lucas declared. This was high praise indeed.

A tunnel book is an old-timey craft which involves creating a three-dimensional scene out of paper. There are many different ways to make one, but we will show you how Lucy Owl made hers in case you would like to make your own.

Here is what you will need:

• Stiff paper or cardstock
• A ruler
• A pencil and eraser
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• Something to color with – we used watercolor paints
• (Optional: an X-ACTO knife)

First, draw 6 rectangles which are 3x4 inches. Draw a 1/4 inch border inside each one. Cut these pages out.

Next, sketch out your scene in pencil on each page. Whatever you decide to draw, keep perspective in mind: the back pages should show things that are farther away (smaller) while the front pages should show things that are closer (bigger).

The layout should go something like this:

Page 1 – This is the backdrop. It should take up the whole frame, although it might be mostly hidden so we recommend keeping it simple. Lucy drew some rolling hills and a sunny sky.

Page 2 - Your drawing should take up about 2/3 of the frame. Lucy drew 2 hills with a narrow stream winding between them and a line of small trees across the top.

Page 3 - Your drawing should take up the bottom half of the frame. Lucy drew more hills with the stream running between them, and a line of turtles walking along the top. She made the stream a little bigger on this page, since it is closer. She also drew 2 more trees, bigger than the ones on page 2. 

Page 4 - Your drawing should take up the bottom third of the frame. Lucy drew a pond with a turtle basking on a log and another turtle nearby. She drew these turtles bigger than the turtles on page 3. 

Page 5 - This page should have something tall drawn on either side, and maybe something drawn close to the bottom of the frame. Lucy drew tall trees with leafy branches on the sides. At the bottom she drew the largest turtle yet. 

Page 6 - This is the cover. Draw a big oval inside the frame. Lucy gave her tunnel book a title and drew things that remind her of Turtle Society expeditions – a magnifying glass, a pencil, turtle footprints, and a hatching turtle egg. 

 

Once all your pages are sketched, color them in. Lucy used watercolors, but you can use colored pencils, crayons, or anything else you have. Lucy went with an autumnal color scheme. 

Lucy referenced Turtles & You to help her paint the turtles. Can you tell what kinds they are? (Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to find out!) She also painted the frames dark green.

Now it’s time to cut out the negative space. (This is all the empty white space around the things you drew.) You have 2 options for this step, depending on which tool you would prefer to use. 

Option #1: If you are a person who enjoys making paper crafts and you happen to have an X-ACTO knife, you can use it to cut precisely around your drawing. This will allow you to create more intricate shapes. However, we recommend this method only for adults who have confidence working with a sharp tool. If you are not an experienced crafter or you are working on this project with a kid, we recommend going with option #2. 

Option #2: To cut out the negative space using scissors, fold a page in half and snip a slit along the frame. Unfold the page and cut into the slit you just made to create a hole. This will give you more space to cut freely.  Then cut around the inside of the frame and the edges of your drawing. 

If you are using scissors, we recommend keeping your drawings more simple and avoiding any shapes with intricate edges or tight corners that you will have to cut around. 

 

 

Now that your pages are done, it's time to make the accordion side panels.

Draw and cut out 2 rectangles which are 3 x 5 1/2 inches. Then draw a vertical line at every half inch mark.

Since Lucy used white watercolor paper for this craft, she painted one side of each panel dark green to match the page's frames and the other side toasty brown to match the autumnal colors. 

Fold both panels accordion-style along the 1/2 inch lines.

Now it's time to assemble the tunnel book. Apply glue to the last fold on both accordion-folded pieces and place the background page on top, facing up. 

Repeat on every other folded section, applying glue to the flat side facing you and placing the page on top. Press firmly and allow the glue to dry between each layer.

Finally, glue the cover on top. Because of the way we glued our pages we ended up with some green paper sticking out on the sides of the cover, so we just trimmed it off. 

Then the tunnel book was done! HUZZAH! 

 

Curious what kinds of turtles Lucy painted? The one in the very front is a Spotted Turtle, and the ones near the pond are Red-Eared Sliders. If you want to know the truth, we're not sure what kinds the turtles in the distance are – they're a little too far away to tell.

Thank you for reading, friend! Did you make this craft at home? Send us a photo or tag us on social media @hazelvillage! For any questions, please email us at hello@hazelvillage.com. 

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