Pre-K Rainforest Theme Unit

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about animals that live in the rainforest ~

Books

Rhymes

"Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree" Rhyme

Five little monkeys,
Sitting in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Crocodile,
"You can't catch me,
No, you can't catch me."

Along comes Mr. Crocodile
quiet as can be...
SNAP!

[Repeat rhyme with four monkeys, three, two, and one.]

Songs

Five Little Monkeys, by Jack Hartmann on the "Math in Motion" CD

Activities

Caps for Sale

[Large Group]
This book is not about the rainforest, but it is a great book about monkeys. After we read the story, we acted it out. Our props were colored felt circles for pretend caps. One child was the peddler and the other children were the monkeys. It's a lot of fun because we get to shake our finger, and stamp our feet, and pretend to be mad.

Baby Python Dance

[Large Motor]
After reading the book, Verdi, we danced with Baby Pythons (a piece of yellow yarn). We used the song "The Bean Bag Boogie" [Greg & Steve] while using the snakes instead of bean bags.

Monkey Babies

[Large Motor]
The children walked around the circle on all fours like monkeys, carrying a "baby monkey" (bean bag) on their backs.

Snakes

[Art]
Children used Crayola Model Magic to make a snake. They rolled it out into a snake shape, then shaped the snake in any position they chose (some kids formed their snakes into a coil and some formed theirs in a curvy line). After the snakes had time to dry (a couple of days), the children painted them in the colors and patterns they chose. We looked at snake photos on the internet to get ideas for the colors and patterns.

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose a Rainforest-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Monkey See/Monkey Do

[Literacy]
We did this activity after reading Caps for Sale which is a book about monkeys who copy everything. The children worked in pairs to do this activity. One child made a design of shapes and lines on a geoboard, and the monkey (the other child) copied the design. Then the children switched roles.

"The Umbrella" Characters

[Literacy]
After reading Jan Brett's book The Umbrella, we talked about what "characters" are in a story. The second time we read the story, each child was given a character flannel board piece from the story (these were printed from Jan Brett's website). As we came to each character's part in the story, the children placed the character on the flannel board. After the story was read, we named each of the characters and talked about what they did in the story and what they said. At small group time, each child chose their favorite character, and we made them into stick puppets (also printed from Jan Brett's site). Each child described their chosen character to the group.
The Umbrella Characters

Monkey Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each monkey, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo daubers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the monkey if stamps or bingo daubers are not available.

Monkey Game
Printable

Pattern Block Snakes

[Math]
We used the pattern blocks to make snakes in an AABB pattern. For example, triangle, triangle, square, square, triangle, triangle, square, square. Another day, we used paper pattern blocks to make a pattern snake on paper.

Poison Frog Tumble

[Math]
We used lima beans that were spray-painted blue on one side and red on the other to represent our poison dart frogs. Children put ten frogs in a cup, shook them, and tossed the beans on a green felt mat. They counted how many reds they tossed and how many blues.

Sizes

[Math]
Each child used 20 pieces of plastic straws (cut 1-inch long) and 2 pieces of yarn. They used these to make snakes of two different sizes: one short and one long. They had to problem-solve and choose how many pieces of straw they wanted to string on each snake.

Size Seriation

[Math]
Children used jewel strings (we pretended they were snakes) of different lengths. They counted the jewels on each string and lined them up from shortest to longest.

Tree Frogs

[Science]
Tree frogs have a sticky liquid on them that helps them stick to trees and leaves (some tree frogs can even climb up a window pane.) Children cut out a tree frog, spread some jelly or jam on the back, and stuck it to a window. The jam comes off with window cleaner.
Tree Frog Picture

Rainforest Terrarium

[Science]
Cut off the bottom and top of a 2-liter soda bottle (throw away the middle). Mix gravel with charcoal and layer it in the bottom of the soda bottle. Add a layer of potting soil. Sprinkle with water. Plant the plants and arrange stones, moss, and a plastic rainforest animal. Water every few weeks.

Classifying Animals

[Science]
We made a chart at circle time of which rainforest animals have striped skin, spotted skin, or solid color skin. Each child chose an animal photo and added it to the correct category on the chart.

For the Science Center

[Science]
Rainforest plants, such as bromeliads, Venus fly catcher, etc.

Taste Test

[Sensory]
Children taste-tested products from the rainforest: mango, banana, papaya, pineapple, coconut, brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, chocolate. Children placed a sticky note with their name on it on a chart graph under each fruit they liked.

Rainforest Pizza

[Cooking]
Ingredients:
Peanut butter
English muffin
Toppings: banana slices, coconut, chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, pineapple pieces.
Spread peanut butter on the English muffin. The children may add any toppings they choose.

Computer Software

[Technology]
Destination: Rainforest
The children made a rainforest story using the computer program Destination: Rainforest. They chose a background scene, clicked and dragged the rainforest animals they wanted on their page, then dictated a story to be typed by the teacher. Children can also use the program to make a rainforest counting book, rainforest animal puppets, and rainforest scene puzzles. Children can look at pictures and listen to ocean facts with the Destination: Rainforest Fact Book.