RIC-20969 Early years Places - The Rainforest
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EARLY YEARS THEMES<br />
<strong>Places</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> rainforest<br />
A complete unit of lessons and activities
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong><br />
Published by R.I.C. Publications ® 2010<br />
Copyright © R.I.C. Publications ® 2010<br />
<strong>RIC</strong>– <strong>20969</strong><br />
Titles in this series:<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong><br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—People<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—Animals<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—Science<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—Fantasy<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—Fairytales<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—Special days and celebrations<br />
Accompanying resources available:<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong> Posters (set of 5)<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong> Stickers (set of 5)<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes Interactive CD (<strong>Places</strong>, People,<br />
Animals, Science)<br />
<strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes Interactive CD (Fantasy, Fairytales,<br />
Special days and celebrations)<br />
This master may only be reproduced by the<br />
original purchaser for use with their class(es). <strong>The</strong><br />
publisher prohibits the loaning or onselling of this<br />
master for the purposes of reproduction.<br />
Copyright Information<br />
Only the blackline masters contained within this<br />
publication may only be reproduced by the original<br />
purchaser for use with their class(es). <strong>The</strong> publisher<br />
prohibits the loaning or onselling of these blackline<br />
masters for purposes of reproduction. No other part of<br />
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the publisher has no control over any subsequent changes which may be made to webpages. It is strongly recommended that the class<br />
teacher checks all URLs before allowing students to access them.<br />
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PO Box 332 Greenwood Western Australia 6924<br />
Website: www.ricpublications.com.au<br />
Email: mail@ricgroup.com.au
Cross-curricular activities<br />
English<br />
• Identify the beginning sound in the name of a rainforest<br />
animal (e.g. ‘monkey’). As a group, give each a name<br />
with the same initial sound; for example, ‘Meeka the<br />
monkey’. (Language)<br />
• Children choose a photograph of a rainforest animal and<br />
describe it. <strong>The</strong> children should say what it looks like—<br />
describing its covering, eyes, paws, legs, claws, teeth,<br />
where it is sitting/lying/eating etc. This will introduce the<br />
concepts of appearance, habitat, diet etc. (Literacy)<br />
• Label groups of individual rainforest animals created for<br />
art/craft display with simple sentences which include the<br />
names of the animals, how they can move or what they<br />
look like. <strong>The</strong> children can give suggestions; for example:<br />
‘Jaguars can jump’; ‘Tigers roar’; ‘Parrots are colourful’.<br />
(Language, Literacy)<br />
• Collect appropriate newspaper or magazine articles about<br />
the rainforest or plants or animals from the rainforest; for<br />
example, about the birth of a baby sloth at a zoo. Relate<br />
the content in simple terms and display on a news board.<br />
(Literacy)<br />
• <strong>The</strong> children read simple rebus sentences, replacing<br />
the picture with a word. For example, ‘<strong>The</strong><br />
rainforest are tall’. (Language, Literacy)<br />
in the<br />
• Read and discuss a nonfi ction book such as <strong>Rainforest</strong><br />
animals by Paul Hess and a fi ction book such as Toby<br />
Toucan and his noisy beak by Paul Flemming. <strong>The</strong><br />
children state their preference. (Literature, Literacy)<br />
• Laminate large colourful photographs of rainforest creatures and labels of their names. Include examples of mammals<br />
(tiger, chimpanzee, gorilla, jaguar, monkey); reptiles/snakes (anaconda, python, boa constrictor); amphibians<br />
(frogs); birds (eagle, parrot, cassowary, toucan); fi sh (piranha, electric eel) and arthropods (butterfl ies,<br />
ants). As a group, identify the photographs by name, then, a few at a time, show the children<br />
which labels and photographs go together. Play matching games to promote recognition<br />
of each animal and its name. After the initial games, use the labels at the writing<br />
table for copying or as a specifi ed writing activity. Websites such as may provide useful images. (Language)<br />
• Listen to and identify rainforest noises while relaxing<br />
on the mat. <strong>The</strong> children relate things they imagined:<br />
tall trees, rain falling, animals sleeping or lurking, birds<br />
chattering, ants scurrying etc. (Literacy)<br />
• Make up nonsense or real rhyming words to match words<br />
relating to the theme; for example: ‘jungle’—’bungle’;<br />
‘tiger’—’liger’; ‘parrot’—’carrot’; ‘vines’—’lions’; ‘trees’—<br />
’bees’. Introduce the rhyming words with a rhyming book<br />
such as Over in the jungle: A rainforest rhyme by Marianne<br />
Berkes. (Language, Literature)<br />
• Say and clap the names of animals with 1, 2, 3 and 4<br />
syllables. Play ‘Which animal is this?’ Match the syllable<br />
clapping to a photograph. (Be sure there is only one<br />
obvious, possible answer.) (Language)<br />
• In small groups, play ‘I went to the rainforest and I met a/<br />
an ...’. Each child has to remember the names of all the<br />
animals that have been named before. (Language)<br />
• Provide large, simple rainforest animal templates for the<br />
children to trace around on white paper. Use brightly<br />
coloured crayons or markers (and animal pictures as<br />
reference) for the children to write patterns to create fur,<br />
feathers, spots, scales or stripes on their traced-animal<br />
shapes. (Literacy)<br />
• Make ‘What am I?’ booklets. <strong>The</strong> children or a scribe write<br />
short sentences or complete cloze sentences to describe<br />
an animal on one page before drawing a picture on the<br />
next. (Language, Literacy)<br />
• Make two copies of simple sentences about rainforest<br />
plants and animals. Laminate both. Cut one into individual<br />
words and ask the children to match the individual words<br />
to those in the uncut sentences. Read together as a class.<br />
Children can draw or paint pictures to match and copy<br />
the sentences. (Language, Literacy)<br />
62 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
<strong>The</strong> rainforest – 1<br />
Mathematics<br />
• Students place a given number of plastic animals (or<br />
pictures) in boxes which represent specifi c habitat<br />
locations; for example, 3 chicks in the nest, 2 cubs in the<br />
den, 4 fi sh in the river. (Number and Algebra)<br />
• Using plastic ants, butterfl ies, frogs, monkeys, tigers,<br />
snakes and birds, place collections of animals in their<br />
correct section on a poster of the rainforest. Count the<br />
collections and match a numeral to each. Use the same<br />
animals to make rainforest animal patterns—snake,<br />
monkey, snake, monkey etc. Complete other patterns<br />
orally with clapping. (Number and Algebra)<br />
• <strong>The</strong> children thread a given number (between 1 and<br />
20) of cut sections of plastic straws onto two different<br />
pieces of wool or string to create two snakes of different<br />
lengths— one long and one short. (Number and Algebra,<br />
Measurement and Geometry, Statistics and Probability)<br />
• Use coloured pattern blocks to create a snake; for example,<br />
triangle, triangle, square, square, triangle, triangle,<br />
square, square. (Number and Algebra, Measurement and<br />
Geometry)<br />
• Provide shapes in appropriately-coloured paper (patterned<br />
or plain) to construct a monkey or a tall tree. Refer to<br />
blackline on Page 73. (Measurement and Geometry)<br />
• <strong>The</strong> children paint and pile four green boxes (or blocks<br />
covered in green paper) on top of each other to represent<br />
the four layers of the rainforest (see page 68). Encourage<br />
the use of positional language—on the bottom, on top of,<br />
underneath etc. as well as ordinal language—fi rst, next,<br />
after, last etc. Place pictures of animals from each layer<br />
inside each appropriate box or tape them to the blocks.<br />
(Measurement and Geometry)<br />
Emergent<br />
• Demonstrate the layers of<br />
the rainforest by attaching or<br />
gluing four different strips of<br />
Canopy<br />
tissue paper of various shades<br />
of green underneath each other<br />
on the board or large sheet of<br />
Understorey<br />
paper, overlapping them a little.<br />
Count the layers. Say them in<br />
Forest floor<br />
order from fi rst to fourth. Name<br />
their positions—top, next, second from the bottom and<br />
bottom. Ask the children to identify the layers using words<br />
such as tallest, lowest, highest, middle etc. (Number and<br />
Algebra, Measurement and Geometry)<br />
• Sort rainforest animals by ‘skin’ type—stripes, spots, solid<br />
colour, fur, feathers, scales etc. Line up the collections into<br />
columns and count each. (Measurement and Geometry,<br />
Statistics and Probability)<br />
• Use a large, bright, clear picture of a rainforest scene to<br />
play ‘How many can you see?’ in which children count<br />
the numbers of animals and/or their body parts. For<br />
example, ‘How many monkeys?’ ‘How many tails?’ ‘How<br />
many trunks?’ ‘How many eyes?’ Develop the game by<br />
asking ‘How many more/less than ... ?’ (Number and<br />
Algebra)<br />
• Write the numerals 1–5 or 1–10 on sloth, monkey, frog<br />
or parrot shapes on a sheet for each child. Place a pile<br />
of numeral cards for the children to select from. <strong>The</strong><br />
children use animal stamps to mark off each number on<br />
their sheet as it is selected. Refer to blackline on page 72.<br />
(Number and Algebra)<br />
• <strong>The</strong> children fold large sheets of green painted or printed<br />
paper in halves and cut out or trace symmetrical leaf<br />
shapes. Use the same technique and bright blue paper<br />
to create blue morpho butterfl ies. Provide templates<br />
and other colours to create frogs to sit on the leaves.<br />
(Measurement and Geometry)<br />
• Divide the class into two groups to play ‘Predator-prey’<br />
or ‘Hunter-dinner’; for example, monkeys and leopards.<br />
Designate safe areas for homes in the rainforest (outdoor<br />
area). Call out a number between 1 and 5. <strong>The</strong> leopards<br />
must run to tap that number of monkeys. Monkeys are<br />
only allowed to stay in a home while they count to 10<br />
and then run around at least to the count of 10. <strong>The</strong><br />
monkeys tapped sit out the remainder of the game. Count<br />
the number left. Continue until all monkeys are gone.<br />
Swap positions. Repeat with other animals. (Number and<br />
Algebra)<br />
• Play commercial games such as ‘Barrel of monkeys’ to connect up to 12 monkeys without dropping them. Or play ‘Ants in<br />
the pants’ to see who can get the most ants in the pants. (Number and Algebra)<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 63<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Cross-curricular activities<br />
Science<br />
• Read the book Red-eyed tree frog<br />
by Joy Cowley (or similar). When<br />
discussing the book, emphasise how<br />
tree frogs have a sticky substance on<br />
their feet that help them stick to trees<br />
and leaves. Give each child, or have<br />
them make, a paper red-eyed tree frog. Fold the<br />
legs, place a sticky substance such as jam or honey on<br />
the feet and attach to windows. <strong>The</strong> jam or honey can be<br />
easily removed using window cleaner after the frogs are<br />
taken down. If preferred, use something like Blu-Tack.<br />
Refer to blackline on Page 70.<br />
• Make rainforest terrariums. Ask adult helpers to cut the<br />
top and bottom from a 2-litre soft drink bottle and discard<br />
the middle. Mix some gravel with charcoal and place it<br />
in the bottom section of each bottle. Cover with a layer of<br />
potting mix and water. Add small plants, stones, moss<br />
or leaves and a plastic rainforest animal. Use thick paint<br />
to decorate the outside of the terrarium with climbing<br />
vines. Place the top section of each bottle on as a cover.<br />
Water every two or three weeks. (Take care when using<br />
potting mix. Wear gloves and wash hands thoroughly<br />
afterwards.)<br />
• Explain what a pitcher is and view the colours of real-life<br />
pitcher plants. Use water-resistant paint to decorate both<br />
sides of plastic disposable cake decorating bags to make<br />
pitcher plants. Punch holes on both sides of the top edge<br />
and hang from trees overnight or when a light shower is<br />
expected to demonstrate how pitcher plants collect water<br />
and nutrients.<br />
• Place pot plants of varying heights (including one large<br />
enough for a child to sit under) in a corner on a large,<br />
old plastic sandpit (such as the familiar clam shape)<br />
or plastic sheet to create a rainforest microclimate for<br />
the children to experience. Spread dead leaves and<br />
grass around the bottom. Water using a watering can<br />
to demonstrate rain falling. Use a tall reading lamp to<br />
demonstrate how the sunlight reaches some layers and<br />
not others. Have the children take turns sitting under it to<br />
experience the darkness in the lower layers.<br />
• Discuss different characteristics of rainforest animals; for<br />
example, physical features (what they look like), habitat<br />
(where they live), diet (what they eat), how they move,<br />
hunt, look after their young. Play describing games to<br />
promote recognition of each animal’s characteristics. For<br />
example: ‘I am black. I am strong. I hunt at night. I carry<br />
my prey up a tree. What am I?’ Answer: a black panther.<br />
• Use paper plates painted and cut, or folded in half, to<br />
create a deadly Venus fl y trap. Attach ‘spiky’ fringing<br />
made from cardboard for ‘teeth’.<br />
Ask the children to hold their<br />
Venus fl y trap and pretend to<br />
catch a plastic or child-made ant<br />
or insect in the centre.<br />
• Place examples of pot plants such as bromeliads, Venus<br />
fl y traps, ferns, vines such as Devil’s Ivy and broadleaf<br />
plants such as large philodendrons in the science corner.<br />
Look at, discuss and care for them for the duration of the<br />
theme.<br />
• Show individual pictures of different rainforest plants and<br />
animals. As a class, arrange the pictures to create food<br />
chains and webs. Retell the story ‘This is the house that<br />
Jack built ...’ in the following way: ‘This is the ant in<br />
the rainforest. This is the sloth who eats the ant in the<br />
rainforest. This is the jaguar that eats the sloth who eats<br />
the ant in the rainforest.’ Repeat with other plants and<br />
animals.<br />
• View pictures, or read books about, two different rainforest<br />
animals such as the toucan and the parrot, or the gorilla<br />
and the spider monkey. Identify similar and different<br />
features. Encourage the use of complete sentences such<br />
as ‘<strong>The</strong> toucan is bright and colourful and so is the parrot’;<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> gorilla is big but the spider monkey is small’.<br />
• Introduce the words for groups of animals—‘mammal’,<br />
‘reptile’, ‘amphibian’, ‘birds’ and ‘fi sh’. Young children<br />
love to learn words which are hard to say or different<br />
from their normal vocabulary. Show, or tell them, which<br />
rainforest animals belong to each group. <strong>The</strong>y may be<br />
able to guess some themselves.<br />
• View and match pictures of baby and adult rainforest<br />
animals. Repeat with seeds to reinforce the concept that<br />
plants begin life as a ‘baby’ plant and have a lifecycle as<br />
well as animals.<br />
• Mimic and describe the ways different animals move—<br />
climb, scurry, fl y etc. If possible, view their motion fi rst<br />
before imitating.<br />
64 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
<strong>The</strong> rainforest – 2<br />
Health and physical education<br />
• Play ‘<strong>Rainforest</strong> tag’. Choose two species from the rainforest food web. Divide the<br />
class in half and allocate one half as the predators and the other half their prey. <strong>The</strong><br />
predators chase their prey to the other end of an allotted space. As a player is caught,<br />
she/he must become a predator. Game continues until all children are predators and<br />
only one prey, the winner, remains. Repeat with different species and predators.<br />
• Play ‘<strong>Rainforest</strong> layers’. On a command, the children move in different ways: swinging,<br />
swooping, ‘fl ying’, sliding, rolling, swimming at different levels: low, medium, high,<br />
very high, to simulate the movement of different creatures that inhabit the rainforest’s<br />
different layers.<br />
• Play ‘<strong>Rainforest</strong> home’. Name each of the four corners of a playing area as different<br />
areas where rainforest animals may live; for example, trees, vines, forest fl oor,<br />
bushes. (If the children are more capable, use the correct names for the four layers.)<br />
<strong>The</strong> children move around the area as commanded until a whistle is blown and they<br />
run to a ‘home’ corner. When all the children are ‘home’, name one corner to be<br />
eliminated. (This may reinforce the concept that some areas of the rainforest are in<br />
danger of being destroyed by human activity.) <strong>The</strong>se children ‘sit out’ and the game<br />
continues until one child, the winner, remains.<br />
• Create a circuit of stations or obstacle course to practise set skills. <strong>The</strong> children may<br />
need to climb a ladder to mimic climbing a vine or tall tree, balance on a beam to<br />
walk across a bridge over a river, crawl through a tunnel to get mimic an ant hiding<br />
under a leaf to get out of the rain or slide down a slippery dip to mimic rain falling<br />
down. On command, children stand still before moving to the next station.<br />
• Children create a simple,<br />
edible rainforest scene on a<br />
paper plate, using chopped<br />
raw vegetable and fruit. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
may like to make four distinct<br />
layers or a picture of a tree,<br />
vine or animal.<br />
• Create a healthy lifestyle<br />
poster with characteristics of<br />
different creatures. <strong>The</strong> children<br />
complete oral cloze sentences,<br />
putting in the correct name<br />
from a choice of creatures.<br />
For example: Get lots of sleep<br />
like the<br />
(sloth).<br />
Eat fruit every day like the<br />
(fruit bat).<br />
Take lots of exercise like the<br />
(leopard). Learn<br />
to swim like the<br />
(piranha). Provide pictures of<br />
each creature doing the activity<br />
to help the children choose the<br />
correct words.<br />
Drama<br />
• Use clothes from the dress-up box to make improvised<br />
rainforest animal costumes—blue shirt or cloak for a<br />
blue morpho butterfl y; patterned materials for pythons<br />
or boa constrictors; spotted or striped materials for<br />
jaguars or tigers; plastic sunglasses with bright red lens<br />
(made using red cellophane) for red-eyed tree frogs;<br />
furry material or blankets for monkeys, chimpanzees<br />
or gorillas; brightly-coloured feathers glued onto strips<br />
of material or cardboard for toucans or parrots etc. Add<br />
animal masks for extra motivation.<br />
• Using beanbags as ‘babies’, the children walk on four<br />
legs, like a monkey, carrying their baby on their backs.<br />
• Place a number of plastic ants in the sandpit for creative<br />
play. Add leaves for hiding under, carrying on their backs<br />
or chewing into pulp (to feed fungi in their nests). Add<br />
others to the block corner for the children to build a<br />
rainforest.<br />
• Decorate a hat stand as a tall emergent or canopy tree.<br />
Tape on cardboard leaves and scrunched up green paper.<br />
Use plastic frogs to climb the tree or perch in a branch.<br />
Use individual frogs or families of frogs to act out life in a<br />
tree in the rainforest.<br />
• ‘What’s for lunch?’ Children in<br />
rainforest creature masks sit<br />
at a cafe table pretending to<br />
look at a menu. Using their<br />
knowledge of the rainforest<br />
food web, they decide what<br />
to eat.<br />
• Go on a rainforest safari.<br />
One child as hunter follows<br />
potato print paw shapes laid<br />
down in different colours for each animal. At the end of<br />
each track, the animal (a child in a mask) either pounces<br />
on the hunter or runs away.<br />
• Assist children to sew the edges of simple felt shapes and<br />
decorate to make and use rainforest animal puppets for<br />
dramatic play.<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 65<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Cross-curricular activities<br />
Visual arts<br />
• Make the four layers of the<br />
rainforest. Have the children<br />
paint three different-sized<br />
boxes in shades of green<br />
and a fourth fl at cereal<br />
box green and brown.<br />
Place the fl at box on<br />
the bottom and the<br />
others, in order, from<br />
largest to the smallest<br />
on the top. Glue<br />
together using strong<br />
glue. When dry, use<br />
brown paint or markers to draw trunks or vines on each<br />
layer. Add cut-out leaf shapes and crumpled or fringed<br />
paper to complete the trees, bushes and vines to create<br />
a 3-D effect. Place animals around and on the different<br />
layers.<br />
• On strips of paper, the children use potato prints to make<br />
animal tracks for a variety of animals, leading to a picture<br />
or photograph of the animal.<br />
• Use kitchen rolls to make rainforest animals. Cut the roll<br />
into 5-cm lengths and paint. Colour and cut out different<br />
animal faces. Glue faces to the rolls.<br />
• Make a bromeliad. Children decorate two strips of thin<br />
card (one 3 cm wide, the other 5 cm wide) with markers<br />
or oil pastels. Use patterned-edged scissors to cut a fancy<br />
edge on one side of each strip. Tape the wide strip ‘fancy’<br />
edge up, to the inside top of the cup and the narrow strip<br />
to the outside. Gently fold the edges down if desired.<br />
Place some water in the bottom of the cup with a small<br />
plastic frog.<br />
• Use stiff plastic, such as overhead transparency sheets,<br />
parental assistance and coloured permanent markers<br />
to create blue morpho butterfl ies to suspend from the<br />
ceiling. Coffee fi lters, coloured with markers and sprayed<br />
with water, also make effective butterfl ies.<br />
• Use painted or traced hand and footprints cut out for tails<br />
or wings of parrots, butterfl ies or toucans; and bodies of<br />
bats, frogs, piranha, tigers, jaguars and snakes (multiple<br />
copies needed for snakes).<br />
• Make snakes by painting both sides of a paper plate then<br />
cutting a spiral towards the centre. Add eyes and a tongue<br />
and create patterns along its length before hanging from<br />
the ceiling. Stuff old socks or roll clay or playdough into<br />
lengths for a 3-D version.<br />
• Make a monkey puppet by attaching fan-folded strips of<br />
construction paper, as arms and legs, to a cardboard head<br />
and body. Attach cardboard feet and hands. Use different<br />
craft techniques and materials to decorate the monkey’s<br />
face and body. Hold a monkey parade to show many<br />
different monkey species.<br />
Society and environment<br />
• Soak uncooked rice and pasta of different shapes in<br />
different food colouring and allow to dry. Use to decorate<br />
a paper plate with the facial features of a rainforest animal<br />
or as a rainforest plant.<br />
• Provide the children with yellow and orange paper,<br />
scissors, black paint (to make fi ngerprint spots etc.) and<br />
googly eyes to create jaguars. Add pegs for legs to make<br />
free-standing models for display.<br />
• Use discarded CDs, feathers, other collage materials,<br />
googly eyes and strong glue to make parrots or toucans<br />
to hang.<br />
• Look at pictures of people who live in the rainforest.<br />
Investigate and discuss where they live, what they wear<br />
and eat and how they might get their food.<br />
• Show pictures and say the names of various plants and<br />
animals of the rainforest, as well as some human-made<br />
objects. <strong>The</strong> children must state whether each is ‘natural’<br />
or ‘built/made’; for example, monkey (natural), road<br />
(built), hut (built), snake (natural), orchid (natural),<br />
waterfall (natural), bridge (built), fern (natural), truck<br />
(built) etc.<br />
• Imagine and discuss what it would be like to live in the<br />
rainforest. In what ways would it be the same as/different<br />
from their lives?<br />
• Make a class collection of (natural) soft rainforest toys<br />
(frogs, snakes, monkeys, tigers, gorillas, parrots, toucans<br />
etc.). <strong>The</strong> children can choose one to talk about in an oral<br />
presentation.<br />
• Make a collection of readily available fresh produce<br />
that comes from rainforest areas, such as pineapple,<br />
bananas, avocados, corn, sweet potato (yam) and<br />
mangos. Discuss and decide whether each is a fruit or<br />
vegetable/what colour it is/whether it grows on the ground<br />
or in trees etc.<br />
• Look at pictures of family groups who live in the<br />
rainforest. Discuss to compare to own family group OR<br />
paraphrase online stories about children who live in or<br />
near the rainforest from < http://www.rainforest-alliance.<br />
org/education.cfm?id=rainforest_stories >.<br />
• Select cool clothes to wear in a hot, tropical rainforest.<br />
Ask the children what would be needed to protect them<br />
from heavy rain showers.<br />
• Make and wear ‘beaded’ indigenous necklaces.<br />
66 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
<strong>The</strong> rainforest – 3<br />
Music<br />
• All children, sitting in a circle, wear a mask or a laminated<br />
picture of a different rainforest creature around their necks.<br />
Start with one ‘animal’ in the centre of the circle. <strong>The</strong><br />
children in the circle chant ‘Deep in the rainforest, what<br />
can I see? I see a looking at me’. <strong>The</strong> child in<br />
the middle calls out an animal’s name to complete the<br />
chant. <strong>The</strong> child wearing that mask comes to join him/<br />
her in the centre. Continue until all children have left the<br />
circle and are together in the centre.<br />
• Laminate coloured pictures of rainforest plants or animals<br />
(at least as many as the number of children in the class).<br />
Place them, spread out, on the fl oor. Play appropriate<br />
music and when the music stops the children must stand<br />
on a plant or animal; a selected group will then name<br />
their plants or animals.<br />
• Listen to recordings of rainforest animal sounds. <strong>The</strong><br />
children use their voices, body percussion or instruments<br />
to re-create the sounds.<br />
• Match a given sound to a specifi c plant or animal, rain,<br />
waterfall or river. Allocate different children to make each<br />
sound. Compose a class ‘rainforest symphony’.<br />
• Make up, clap and say simple rhythmic chants for<br />
rainforest plants and animals; for example, ‘Venus fl y<br />
trap is very happy; Insects get stuck inside ‘cause she’s<br />
very snappy’; ‘Blue butterfl y, fl y away. Visit the rainforest<br />
another day’.<br />
• Read the story Verdi by Janell Cannon, which is about a<br />
yellow-coloured baby python. Dance to a favourite song<br />
while holding a long strip of yellow wool, crepe paper or<br />
material.<br />
• Reinforce the concept of the four layers of the rainforest<br />
by asking the children to move at different levels—high<br />
(emergent), lower (canopy), lower still (understorey)<br />
and on the fl oor (for the forest fl oor). Designate different<br />
animals at these levels and ask the children to move like<br />
them. Include different tempos (slow sloth, quick ant<br />
etc.).<br />
• Add musical sounds to the telling of a rainforest story that<br />
the children act out.<br />
Technology (and design)<br />
• Make and listen to the sound of the rain in the rainforest<br />
using a rain stick. Make the rain stick, with adult<br />
assistance, in the following way: Paint a cardboard roll<br />
and allow to dry. Cover one end with strong plastic wrap<br />
and secure with a rubber band. Place styrofoam packing<br />
‘peanuts’, rice or popping corn in<br />
the open end of the roll and then<br />
cover the other end in the same<br />
way as the fi rst. Tip up and down<br />
to make, and listen to, rain.<br />
• Practise gluing and joining: fan fold and attach<br />
paper legs to the bodies of craft tree frogs; fold small<br />
cardboard strips in half to attach the two halves of<br />
a paper plate Venus fl y trap together, ensuring they<br />
can open and shut; connect cardboard rolls using a<br />
skipping rope to make a long python (determine how<br />
to stop the rolls from falling off the end); use split<br />
pins to make jointed animals.<br />
• Provide a variety of threading materials and string<br />
or wool to make tribal necklaces, bracelets and<br />
anklets.<br />
• From pictures of rainforest tribal huts, design and<br />
build a rainforest home from natural materials such<br />
as sticks and leaves. Design and build a bridge in<br />
the same way, testing for strength and durability by<br />
placing one or more plastic rainforest animals on it.<br />
• Design and build a tall, emergent tree using rolled up<br />
newspaper taped in place.<br />
• View online stories about children who live in or near the<br />
rainforest from .<br />
• Visit and<br />
play ‘Remember the rainforest’ by matching animal pairs.<br />
• Visit to view a virtual<br />
rainforest at night and to fi nd printable photographs of<br />
animals.<br />
• Use dead leaves collected<br />
from home or in the<br />
playground to create a<br />
home for an ant or other<br />
insect in the rainforest.<br />
• Use construction blocks<br />
to design a road or bridge<br />
through a rainforest.<br />
Provide pictures or books<br />
to assist.<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 67<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Teacher background information<br />
NOTE: For the purposes of accuracy, this unit is titled ‘<strong>The</strong> rainforest’ instead of ‘<strong>The</strong> jungle’. This unit introduces animals and<br />
plants associated with tropical rainforests. All rainforests are jungles but not all jungles are rainforests.<br />
<strong>The</strong> world’s rainforests occur around the ‘waist’ of the globe, between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Tropical rainforests are<br />
always hot and humid because they lie close to the Equator and have a lot of rainfall.<br />
<strong>The</strong> rainforests are home to millions of plant and animal species. <strong>The</strong> plants consume carbon dioxide and generate oxygen so<br />
rainforests are known as the ‘lungs of the planet’.<br />
<strong>The</strong> world’s major tropical rainforests are located in Central and South America, central Africa and Madagascar, Southeast Asia<br />
and the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia.<br />
Plants create different layers and habitats within the rainforest:<br />
<strong>The</strong> forest floor is the lowest layer. It is very dark, so there is little or no plant growth. Vegetation that falls decomposes very<br />
quickly. Many insects and small creatures can be found on the forest fl oor and up in the trees. Giant anteaters and other large<br />
creatures live there.<br />
<strong>The</strong> understorey receives a little sunlight so plants can grow here. <strong>The</strong>y have developed wide leaves to take in as much<br />
sunlight as possible. <strong>The</strong>se leaves create more shade on the forest fl oor.<br />
Emergent<br />
<strong>The</strong> canopy forms a roof over the layers beneath. It is a network of leaves and<br />
branches, teeming with life: insects, birds, reptiles and mammals.<br />
<strong>The</strong> emergent layer contains the tallest trees of the rainforest. Flying creatures such<br />
as birds, bats and butterfl ies are found here. Climbers such as monkeys can also<br />
reach these treetops.<br />
Canopy<br />
Plants are the most numerous living things in the rainforest, feeding the insects which<br />
in turn become prey to larger but less numerous creatures.<br />
<strong>The</strong> balance of nature in the rainforest is under constant threat from human activity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> extinction of a single species can create a hole in a food web and have a<br />
disastrous effect on an ecosystem.<br />
Some of the animals in various rainforests around the world, and their diet/prey, are<br />
listed on the facing page.<br />
Understorey<br />
Forest floor<br />
Concepts to be developed<br />
• A tropical rainforest is found in the hot, humid parts of the world.<br />
• <strong>The</strong>re are four layers in the rainforest.<br />
• <strong>Rainforest</strong>s are home to many different plants and animals.<br />
• Plants and animals feed on each other to form a food web.<br />
• Humans affect the rainforest by cutting down trees.<br />
• Some people still live in the rainforest.<br />
68 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Some animals of the rainforest<br />
and their diet<br />
Animal Prey/Diet Animal Prey/Diet Animal Prey/Diet Animal Prey/Diet<br />
giant<br />
anteater<br />
ants, termites<br />
Alexandra’s<br />
birdwing<br />
butterfl y<br />
caterpillar eats<br />
a toxic pipevine<br />
plant; adult feeds<br />
on the liquid<br />
nectar of fl owers<br />
blue morpho<br />
butterfl y<br />
rotting or<br />
fermenting fruit<br />
sloth<br />
fruit, leaves,<br />
buds, young<br />
twigs<br />
toucan<br />
fruit, berries,<br />
small birds,<br />
lizards, insects<br />
leaf cutter<br />
ant<br />
grow own fungus<br />
to eat which they<br />
feed using leaves<br />
or grass<br />
gorilla<br />
leaves, fruit, bark<br />
parrot<br />
fruits, nuts, seeds<br />
red-eyed<br />
tree frog<br />
insects, including<br />
crickets; smaller<br />
frogs<br />
poison dart<br />
frog<br />
termites,<br />
crickets, fl ies,<br />
ants, spiders,<br />
crustaceans, tiny<br />
water animals<br />
rhinoceros<br />
beetle<br />
larvae feed on<br />
rotten wood;<br />
adults feed on<br />
nectar, plant sap,<br />
fruit<br />
Bengal<br />
tiger<br />
antelopes,<br />
boars, monkeys,<br />
pigs, birds and<br />
occasionally<br />
elephants<br />
harpy eagle<br />
sloths, monkeys,<br />
small mammals<br />
chimpanzee<br />
seeds, fruits,<br />
leaves, bark,<br />
insects such as<br />
termites, small<br />
prey<br />
macaw<br />
nuts, fruits, seeds<br />
spider<br />
monkey<br />
fruit, seeds,<br />
leaves, nuts and<br />
occasionally<br />
insects<br />
southern<br />
cassowary<br />
fruit, vegetation,<br />
insects, fungi<br />
gibbon<br />
fruits, leaves, tree<br />
bark, fl owers,<br />
plant shoots,<br />
bird eggs, small<br />
birds, insects, tree<br />
frogs, other small<br />
animals.<br />
siamang<br />
fresh leaves, fruit,<br />
nuts, insects,<br />
eggs, small<br />
vertebrates<br />
lemur<br />
fruit, leaves,<br />
sometimes<br />
insects<br />
orangutan<br />
fruit, leaves, bark,<br />
insects<br />
anaconda<br />
rodents, fi sh,<br />
birds, caiman,<br />
turtles, larger<br />
mammals if the<br />
snake is big<br />
enough<br />
okapi<br />
shoots, buds,<br />
grass, fruit, fungi,<br />
leaves<br />
boa<br />
constrictor<br />
birds, small<br />
rodents (including<br />
bats), lizards<br />
but not large<br />
mammals<br />
python<br />
birds, mammals<br />
of different sizes<br />
including deer<br />
and pigs and<br />
on very rare<br />
occasions,<br />
humans<br />
manatee<br />
oceanic/<br />
freshwater plants<br />
hoatzin<br />
leaves, fruit<br />
piranha<br />
smaller fi sh,<br />
larger fi sh and<br />
small mammals if<br />
there is a school<br />
of piranhas<br />
quetzel<br />
fruits (the<br />
avocado family),<br />
insects, small<br />
vertebrates such<br />
as lizards and<br />
frogs<br />
jaguar<br />
a variety of<br />
animals— turtles,<br />
tapirs, deer<br />
great<br />
hornbill<br />
fruit, insects,<br />
lizards, snakes,<br />
small mammals<br />
capybara<br />
grass, fruit, water<br />
plants<br />
black<br />
caiman<br />
fi sh, turtles, birds,<br />
capybara, larger<br />
mammals<br />
howler<br />
monkey<br />
leaves, fruit,<br />
maggots<br />
worms<br />
organic matter<br />
in soil such as<br />
animal parts and<br />
bacteria<br />
bats<br />
fruit, nectar,<br />
blood, insects<br />
(depending on<br />
bat)<br />
tree snail<br />
fungus, lichen,<br />
dead plant<br />
material<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 69<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Red-eyed tree frog<br />
70 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6<br />
Instructions: Colour or paint the parts of the frog, except the eyes. Fan fold strips of paper and attach for legs and arms. Attach feet and hands. Add red spots or sequins for eyes. Alternatively, use as a template to<br />
trace the frog shape onto the back of a painted sheet of paper or as inspiration to create a tree frog from coloured paper shapes. Painted handprints may be substituted for hands and feet, if desired.
Colour the toucan<br />
Instructions: Follow the key to colour the toucan. Use the picture as a guide for a shape picture—circle for head, oval for body, rectangle for tail, triangle for beak.<br />
1 = yellow<br />
2 = blue<br />
3 = orange<br />
4 = red<br />
5 = green<br />
6 = brown<br />
7 = black<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 71<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Sloth game<br />
1 2<br />
3<br />
72 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
4<br />
5 6<br />
7 8<br />
9 10<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6<br />
Instructions: Copy one page for each child. <strong>The</strong> teacher randomly calls out numbers from 1 to 10. Children tick, stamp or cross each numeral as it is called out. Or photocopy two copies of the sheet onto<br />
card to play a memory game.
<strong>Rainforest</strong> shapes<br />
Instructions: Colour the pictures or use as inspiration for the children to make other animals or trees using attribute blocks or coloured paper shapes.<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 73<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Tiger mask<br />
Instructions: Copy onto card. Colour or paint and cut out the tiger mask. Cut out the eyes. Punch holes at the sides and thread elastic through, or staple elastic to card.<br />
74 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Food chain<br />
Wonderful rainforests<br />
1<br />
Some strange plants grow in the rainforest.<br />
Instructions: Enlarge to A3 size. Colour the pictures. Cut out the strips. Put the strips in order. Staple them together to make a book.<br />
2<br />
Some animals eat plants.<br />
3<br />
Some animals eat the plant-eaters.<br />
4<br />
Some plants eat animals, too!<br />
5<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 75<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Recipes<br />
Mango milkshake<br />
Ingredients<br />
• 500 mL milk<br />
• 250 g vanilla yoghurt<br />
• 500 g chopped mango<br />
Instructions<br />
• Mix all ingredients in blender. Put in fridge to cool. Pour and serve.<br />
Chocolate and coconut bread<br />
Ingredients<br />
• 1 slice of fresh bread<br />
• 1 teaspoon chocolate spread<br />
• 1 teaspoon dried coconut<br />
Instructions<br />
• Spread chocolate spread all over the bread. Sprinkle coconut on top.<br />
Cut bread into four triangles and serve.<br />
Ingredients<br />
Guava delight<br />
• 1 cup pureed guava pulp<br />
• 1 cup evaporated milk<br />
• 3<br />
/ 4<br />
cup honey<br />
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice<br />
Instructions<br />
• Pour evaporated milk into a bowl and leave in freezer for<br />
20 minutes until chilled. Whip until thickened. Add honey<br />
and lemon juice to pureed guava and mix to combine.<br />
Gently fold milk into fruit and pour into freezer moulds.<br />
Freeze for about 6 hours.<br />
Tropical muffin pizza<br />
Ingredients<br />
• 1 English muffi n sliced in half<br />
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste<br />
• 1<br />
/ 2<br />
sliced avocado<br />
• 1<br />
/ 2<br />
cup chopped pineapple<br />
• 1<br />
/ 2<br />
cup grated cheese<br />
Instructions<br />
• Spread tomato paste over the cut side of the two muffi n<br />
halves. Place slices of avocado and pineapple pieces on<br />
top. Cover with grated cheese. Cook in oven at 200 ºC for<br />
15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly then serve.<br />
76 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Avocado spread<br />
Recipes<br />
Ingredients<br />
• 1 avocado<br />
• 1 crushed clove of garlic<br />
• 1 small tub natural fromage frais<br />
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice<br />
• 1<br />
/ 2<br />
teaspoon salt<br />
Instructions<br />
• Slice avocado and remove stone. Remove fl esh and blend<br />
with remaining ingredients. Spoon into bowl and chill in<br />
fridge before serving.<br />
(If fromage frais is not available, try using low-fat creamed<br />
cheese instead.)<br />
Fig surprise<br />
Ingredients<br />
• 1<br />
/ 4<br />
cup chocolate chips<br />
• 1<br />
/ 2<br />
cup chopped, toasted almonds*<br />
• 12 fresh fi gs cut in half<br />
• vanilla ice-cream<br />
Instructions<br />
• Pre-heat oven to 180º C. Combine chocolate chips and<br />
almonds in a bowl. Press a teaspoon of mix into each fi g<br />
half. Spray a baking tray lightly with oil. Place fi gs on tray<br />
and bake for 15 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla icecream.<br />
Tropical fruit salad<br />
Ingredients<br />
• 1 peeled, seeded and diced ripe papaya<br />
• 1 diced banana<br />
• 3 tablespoons chopped, fresh coriander<br />
• 3 tablespoons lime juice<br />
Instructions<br />
• Combine all ingredients and chill before serving.<br />
Tropical fruit punch<br />
Ingredients<br />
• juice of 1 orange<br />
• juice of 1 pink grapefruit<br />
• 3 tablespoons lime juice<br />
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice<br />
Instructions<br />
• Combine all ingredients<br />
and chill before serving.<br />
Macadamia butter<br />
Ingredients<br />
• macadamia nuts (or nuts of choice)*<br />
Instructions<br />
• Grind or process nuts until a butter. Chill 2 minutes to thicken then use as a spread (in place of peanut butter) or dessert<br />
topping.<br />
*Be aware of children with allergies to nuts.<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 77<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Display ideas<br />
<strong>Rainforest</strong> layers<br />
• Cover a wall with child-made rainforest plants, clearly showing the four layers: emergent, canopy, understorey and forest<br />
fl oor. Include hanging vines (liana). Children make different 3-D animals using a range of craft techniques and materials and<br />
locate them in the appropriate place in the rainforest layers display. Include a river for fi sh and water-loving amphibians and<br />
reptiles. Label each animal or unusual plant. (See a list of rainforest animals on page 69.)<br />
<strong>Rainforest</strong> gallery<br />
• Children choose a rainforest creature or plant to match the initial sound of their own names. For example, Jamilah jaguar,<br />
Amelia anaconda, Freddie fl ytrap, Kevin kapok, Peta piranha etc. <strong>The</strong>y colour/decorate and frame with coloured construction<br />
paper, a picture of their chosen creature/plant. In black pen on a silver-grey paper name plaque, label each picture. Display<br />
pictures in alphabetical order.<br />
Swinging vines<br />
• Children hang models of rainforest creatures across the classroom using green cardboard or twisted paper, thick string or<br />
wool, or real vine from the garden.<br />
Colourful parrots<br />
• Ask the children to use fi ngers or brushes to make<br />
colourful patterns on a small paper plate. When dry,<br />
add a circular head cut from coloured paper or card<br />
and a coloured, cut-out pattern for wings, beaks, eyes<br />
and head feathers. (Alternatives: Painted handprints,<br />
allowed to dry and cut out may be used for wings,<br />
triangular shapes for beaks, feathers (in a collage) for<br />
head pieces and googly eyes.)<br />
<strong>Rainforest</strong> library<br />
• Provide a variety of suitable books about rainforests—<br />
both fi ction and nonfi ction—for the reading corner. Suspend a green sheet from the ceiling over the area so that the children<br />
can read about the rainforest while sitting under a green canopy.<br />
<strong>Rainforest</strong> food webs<br />
• As a class, discuss, place, connect and display pictures of plants and animals in different food webs. Join them together<br />
using paper chains.<br />
Woven rainforest canopy<br />
• Weave strips of green and brown material and thin, fallen branches through the spaces of an old fi shing net and suspend it<br />
from the ceiling of the classroom to replicate the emergent and canopy layers of the rainforest. <strong>The</strong> children underneath the net<br />
can pretend to be any plant or animal living in the rainforest.<br />
Live plant display<br />
• Refer to science cross-curricular activities, game activity.<br />
Hand print treetops<br />
• Use yellow and shades of green paint to make<br />
prints of the children’s hands or feet. When dry,<br />
have the children cut them out and display them<br />
near the ceiling as treetops. Use fl at sheets of<br />
brown paper, hanging down from them as tree<br />
trunks.<br />
Household items displays<br />
• Hang a class-painted shower curtain as a<br />
rainforest background; use an old hat or coat<br />
stand, decorated, as tall trees to support craft<br />
items.<br />
78 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Literature resources – 1<br />
Stories<br />
• Rain, rain, rainforest by Brenda Z Guiberson<br />
• <strong>The</strong> great kapok tree by Lynne Cherry<br />
• <strong>The</strong> umbrella by Jan Brett<br />
• Slowly, slowly, slowly said the sloth by Eric Carle<br />
• Way up high in a tall green tree by Jan Peck<br />
• <strong>The</strong> rainforest grew all around by Susan K Mitchell<br />
• Over in the jungle: A rainforest rhyme by Marianne Berkes<br />
Nonfiction<br />
• <strong>Rainforest</strong> foodchains by Molly Aloian & Bobbie Kalman<br />
• <strong>Rainforest</strong>s by Lucy Baumann<br />
• A rainforest habitat by Molly Aloian & Bobbie Kalman<br />
• Tropical rainforest by Donald Silver<br />
• A walk in the rainforest by Kristin Joy Pratt<br />
• Nature’s green umbrella by Gail Gibbons<br />
Songs, action rhymes, fingerplays and poems<br />
I’ve been working in the rainforest<br />
(Sung to: ‘I’ve been working on the railroad’)<br />
I’ve been working in the rainforest,<br />
All among the trees.<br />
I’ve been working in the rainforest,<br />
Where I saw the bats and bees.<br />
Parrots, butterfl ies and toucans,<br />
Monkeys and hummingbirds galore,<br />
Frogs and snakes and spotted leopards<br />
On the rainforest fl oor!<br />
I’ve been working in the rainforest,<br />
All among the green.<br />
I’ve been working in the rainforest,<br />
Where the plant life must be seen!<br />
Ferns and mosses and lianas,<br />
Orchids and honeysuckle, too.<br />
Oh, how special is the rainforest,<br />
A magic place come true!<br />
<strong>Rainforest</strong> animals singing game<br />
(A bag with small animal fi gures inside is required.)<br />
We’re going through the rainforest,<br />
We’re going through the rainforest,<br />
What can we see?<br />
What can we see?<br />
(Sing while tapping hands on knees to keep the beat but also<br />
imitate feet walking through the rainforest. Ask a child to select<br />
an animal from the bag, then either sing a song about this<br />
animal, say a rhyme, tell a story or just discuss the animal.<br />
Repeat a number of times.)<br />
<strong>The</strong> layers of the rainforest<br />
(Tune: ‘If you’re happy and you know it’)<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are four layers in the rainforest.<br />
4 Layers!<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are four layers in the rainforest.<br />
4 Layers!<br />
Forest fl oor (crouch down), understorey (stand up and bend<br />
over slightly), canopy (stand and put your arms over your<br />
head like an umbrella), emergent (stand on toes and reach up<br />
high).<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are four layers in the rainforest.<br />
I’m a little monkey<br />
(Tune: ‘I’m a little teapot’)<br />
I’m a little monkey in the tree<br />
Swinging by my tail so happily<br />
I can leap and fl y from tree to tree<br />
I have lots of fun as you see.<br />
I’m a little monkey watch me play<br />
Munching on bananas every day<br />
Lots of monkey friends to play with me<br />
We have fun up in the tree.<br />
Deep in the rainforest<br />
Deep in the rainforest, in the shade of the trees,<br />
Along creeps a jaguar, hunting for a meal.<br />
What can he spy? What can he sniff?<br />
Out jumps the jaguar!<br />
It’s<br />
for tea.<br />
R.I.C. Publications ® – www.ricpublications.com.au <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest 79<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6
Literature resources – 2<br />
Songs, action rhymes, fingerplays and poems<br />
Carnivorous plants<br />
<strong>The</strong> Venus flytrap<br />
Five buzzing fl ies<br />
Near the rainforest fl oor,<br />
Snap! goes the fl ytrap.<br />
Now there’s only four.<br />
Four buzzing fl ies ... etc.<br />
<strong>The</strong> sundew<br />
<strong>The</strong> colourful sundew shining in the sun,<br />
Waits for its prey – tentacles waving,<br />
That’s number one!<br />
<strong>The</strong> colourful sundew shining in the sun,<br />
Waits for its prey – tentacles waving,<br />
That’s number two! ... etc.<br />
<strong>The</strong> pitcher<br />
<strong>The</strong> pitcher plant opens its hood.<br />
In pops its prey – the nectar tastes so good!<br />
Down goes the prey.<br />
Down goes the hood.<br />
Mmm that was tasty.<br />
Time for some more, so ...<br />
<strong>The</strong> pitcher plant opens its hood ... etc.<br />
Three talking toucans<br />
Three talking toucans sitting in a tree<br />
(Hold up 3 fi ngers.)<br />
<strong>The</strong> fi rst one turned and squawked at me!<br />
(Squawk! Squawk!)<br />
Three little toucans sitting in a row<br />
(Hold up 3 fi ngers.)<br />
<strong>The</strong> second one said ‘I fl ap my wings. Watch me go!’<br />
(Flap wings.)<br />
Three little toucans sitting side by side<br />
(Hold up 3 fi ngers)<br />
<strong>The</strong> third one said ‘I can open my beak wide!’<br />
(Hold hands like a beak and open out.)<br />
Three Red-Eyed tree frogs<br />
Three little frogs sitting in a tree.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fi rst one turned and jumped towards me!<br />
Three little frogs hopping all about.<br />
<strong>The</strong> second one said ‘At night’s when I come out!’<br />
Three little frogs leaping tree to tree<br />
<strong>The</strong> third one said ‘Hey, wait for me!’<br />
Notes:<br />
80 <strong>Early</strong> <strong>years</strong> themes—<strong>Places</strong>—<strong>The</strong> rainforest www.ricpublications.com.au – R.I.C. Publications ®<br />
ISBN 978-1-74126-966-6