> Rain Forest Terrarium > > Materials: 2 gal or quart size glass jar for each child. Sand, soil, > gravel (color) and a small lid to hold water. Bowls for mixing sand, > spoons, Fern, moss, animals (plastic) > > Procedure: > 1. Cover bottom half of their jars with gravel > 2. Mix soil and sand together, 1-part sand, 4 parts soil. > 3. Place soil mixture on Gravel. > 4. Place ferns and moss in jar. > 5. Put water in small lid and set in jar. > 6. Place animals in Jar. > 7. Put jar lid on tight. > > Rain Forrest Song > > Im a little Monkey > (sung to Im a Little Teapot) > > I'm a little monkey in the tree > Swinging by my tail so merrily > I can leap and fly for tree to tree. > I have lots of fun you see. > > Im a little monkey, watch me play. > Munching on bananas every day. > Lots of monkey friends to play with me. > We have fun up the tree. > > Rain Forest - art. > > Materials: Outline of tree on construction paper. Ink pads and felt tip > markers. > > Procedure: > 1. Have children put thumb on ink pad and put on tree, 2 thumb prints one > above the other. > 2. Add faces, arms, legs, tail, details with felt tip markers. > > Rain Forest - Gross motor > > Play monkey see, monkey do. > Here are some Rain Forest ideas that I have gathered from other loops. Hope these help you. Nancy D. http://members.aol.com/nancy235 1) Here is a project I used with three year olds. I hope I can give the direction so you will understand without a diagram? materials 1 large sheet of construction paper 1tree trunk cut 3 inches less in width than the large sheet but same length. 3 large palm tree shape leaves (The should be alomost one third the length of the lag paper. paper fastener 3-4 cut out animals from the rain forest The animals can be colored or painted by the children and then pasted on the large paper. The paper should be with the short side toward you. After the animals are on the page fasten the tree trunk and leaves at the top so they hide the animals of the forest but can be moved to reveal them. The purpose is that you can not see all the animals in the Rain Forest because they hide (explain reasons) Also it helops to understand the density of the growth. 2) The Busy Classroom's Rain Forests Age level: 4 and Above Objective To appreciate the beauty of a rain forest Materials Butcher paper scissors felt pen crayons tape calendars and magazines optional-jungle or water music Preparation Cut at least three long sheets of butcher paper. Cut them as long as six feet! Draw a tall tree on each paper. Lay them on the floor or tables. Color them with the help of the children. Tape them near each other on a wall. This is the rain forest! Cut out pictures of animals that live in rain forests. Calendars and magazines are a great source of pictures! Common rain forest animals are frogs, sloths, anteaters, tigers, elephants, jaguars, ocelots, snakes, monkeys, parakeets, toucans, macaws, parrots, plus a variety of butterflies and flowers. What to do Take a trip to a rain forest! Board your canoes! Sit in two straight rows one behind each other. Paddle your canoes down the river towards the rain forest. Play jungle music or music with the sound of water! Are you hungry! Pretend to throw fishing lines in the river. When you feel a tug, reel your fish in! Paddle to land. Sit down at the edge of the rain forest. Listen! The forest is very still! Soon you will hear a storm coming. Pound lightly on the rug for a light rainfall. Now pound hard! The storm is over you! Rain falls often in a rain forest. Now sit quietly. Place the animal pictures face down on the rug. By sitting quietly, the animals that live in the rain forest will not be frightened. Each child turns over a picture. If the child turns over a parrot, say, "Look! We see a parrot!" This child then tapes the parrot on the paper rain forest. Continue until all the animals have been placed in the rain forest. Look at the beautiful rain forest! We are lucky to have such beautiful places on the Earth. More to do Some people who live in rain forests communicate by drum! Give two children a spoon and a pan each. These are their drums. One child beats out a message. The other child answers! Now switch and the child who answered sends the message! Give all the children a turn to send and answer a message 3) We are kicking off our summer cirriculum with a 2 week unit on the rain forest. Here are 2 ideas from next week's lesson plan: Easel painting: Provide several shades of green paint (lighten & darken shades by adding white or a little black paint to the green). As a variaton, you could add a scent (mint extract?). Terrariums: Fill (1) 8' or 9" clear plastic cup with potting soil. Cup should be about 3/4 full. Plant nonpoisionous plant cuttings, covering the roots well. (Another suggestion is to use grass seed. Sprinkle on top of soil but don't cover.) Water lightly. Place another cup on top so that the mouths of the cup touch each other. Help the child tape both cups together. Place in a area where they can be easily see, but out of in\mmediate reach & in moderate sunlight. As the water in the terrarium evaporates, it condenses on top & "rains" back down on the plant. 4) I would encourage all of the students to help you turn your room or a portion of it (like the reading center) into the rainforest. Have the class look at your books and decide on what needs to be in their Rainforest. Let them do it. help if assistance is needed. Make a tree all the way to the ceiling. have vines hanging from the ceiling, but not too low. maybe drape them from parts of the room. Have fun and let the kids take part as much as possible. Another great idea for the Rainforest is to have snacks related tot he rainforest. We get a lot of what we eat from the plants of the rainforest. 5) I wanted to tell you about 2 activities my 4-5 year olds did. First I made a large rainstick with poster tube and nails and aquarium gravel as one looper suggested. The each child made an individual rainstick with a paper towel roll that was sponge painted with several bright colors. One end was covered with a cardboard circle, and taped with clear wide tape. Into the open end, we placed two spoons of rice. Then this end was covered with a cardboard circle and taped closed with clear wide tape. We used bright colored yarn to circle around each end to add color, and to help hold the tape on. With a little practice, and slow movement, the children could make these sound like rain. Also, I used the idea of a paper tree that a looper sent in, but the kids colored small pictures of the various things that would live in the tree, ie. monkey, parrot, spider, etc., cut them out and glued them to the branches. They were very proud of the finished product, and had lots of fun doing them! 6) Our kindergarten class does the rainforest every year and they do turn their room into one. They hang green crepe paper for the vines and attach birds, monkeys, butterflies and other rainforest speices. They also bring in products from the rain forest for the kids-coffee, spices, tea,e tc. I had them make up goodie bags made up of the products so that they could take them home. Some they could taste and others they could smell. It was really fun to wastch them taste the stange thngs. Here are the things that I have in my Jungle file: *Get a book on indigenous people of the rainforest and face paint the children to look like the tribal people. Then string beads for tribal necklaces. *Make rainforest collages from rainforest products------coffee, sugar, tea. * Our class is working on "The Jungle". Yesterday we decorated our toilet paper binaculars and went on a Safari. I hid animals all over and we pretended to put on our backbacks, hats etc. Then we stopped in the middle cause it was so hot and had a pretend drink of water and put on our sunscreen. Binoculars Two toilet paper rolls Glue Coloured tape or yarn String or yarn Additional decorations or paint Decorate two toilet paper rolls as desired. Cellophane may be used to cover the ends. Glue the two together or wrap with coloured tape/yarn. Punch a hole on the side of each roll near one end. Thread string or yard through holes to produce a neck strap. Knot at each end. Instant binoculars for hours of fun gazing outdoors! *Play a tape of rainforest sounds----the rainforest is never quiet. Chocolate Snake (serves several) Ingredients: 1/2 C. Peanut butter 1/2 C. Dry milk 1/2 C. Honey 1 T. cocoa 1/2 t. vanilla 1/2 C. Chopped nuts 1/2 C. Raisins 2 T. coconut 1. Combine peanut butter and dry milk until blended 2. Stir in , one at a time, honey, cocoa, vanilla, nuts, raisins, and coconut 3. Place mixture on wax paper and roll into a thick snake shape 4. Wrap in wax paper and chill 5. To serve, either have children pull off pieces, or cut into slices Lions Supplies: Construction Paper, Glue, Crayons, Rice Crispies cereal Since March comes in like a lion, we crafted cute lions by folding a piece of yellow construction paper in 1/2 then cut out a half circle as big as the 1/2 sheet itself(this will be your all in one body,legs). With more yellow paper create a roundish head have kiddies draw on their faces and paste on rice krispies for the mane. We have rice krispies as a snack before so they aren't tempted to eat the ones frosted with glue!! Jungle Theme: A wise Monkey Tale by Betsy Maestro. This is a great book For a cooking activity You can make mokey bread or banana bread. Monkey bread Pillsbury bread dough 1 or 2 pkg Butter, sugar, and cinnamon Dab the butter over the bread dough and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake. this is one activity the children really can do all themselves. Place in the oven acording to directions cool them and enjoy eat. Zany Zebras Give each child a construction paper picture of a zebra with no stripes, mane, or tail. Use a fine brush or Q-tip & have them make stripes with black tempera paint. When paint dries, glue strips of florecent paper on neck & tail. Have the kids fringe paper. Giraffe Game Have the children sit in a circle. Ask the children if they know what kind of sound a giraffe makes, the answer to this question is a giraffe doesn't make any sound! To play, you see who can be the quietest for the longest amount of time. The children love this game and you get a few minutes of peace and quiet. *We do the rainforest every year and they do turn their room into one. They hang green crepe paper for the vines and attach birds, monkeys, butterflies and other rainforest speices. They also bring in products from the rain forest for the kids-coffee, spices, tea,e tc. I had them make up goodie bags made up of the products so that they could take them home. Some they could taste and others they could smell. It was really fun to wastch them taste the stange thngs. While studying zoo animals, we painted zebras--but is the zebra blackwith white stripes or white with black stripes? Give your students an option by having patterns of both colors available--let them paint the zebra the way they see it. * Tie Snakes (especially appropriate for the rain forest theme) Take one of dad's old/ugly ties- the busier the print the better. Cut open on of the ends, and fill 2/3's all the way will polyfill (that pillow stuff). Then, insert either a hanger you have made straight or a length of medium-light gauge wire. Fill the rest of the way, and sew/glue/web-iron the tie closed again. The wire or hanger seems pretty important to giving the body some shape and letting you give it that "s" shape, but I guess you could skip that part if you had to. Now, add googly eyes and the long tounge with the "v" shape at the end, and you have a rain forest andaconda! Young ones should be able to most of the project! We left out the wire as it has a tendency to poke through the ends. When making your snake leave the tag on the underside, the children put the snake around their neck and put their finger through the tag to make them move. (we used dowling to poke the stuffing down the tie). *Make a tree all the way to the ceiling. have vines hanging from the ceiling, but not too low. maybe drape them from parts of the room. Have fun and let the kids take part as much as possible. * Easel painting: Provide several shades of green paint (lighten & darken shades by adding white or a little black paint to the green). As a variaton, you could add a scent (mint extract?). * Terrariums: Fill (1) 8' or 9" clear plastic cup with potting soil. Cup should be about 3/4 full. Plant nonpoisionous plant cuttings, covering the roots well. (Another suggestion is to use grass seed. Sprinkle on top of soil but don't cover.) Water lightly. Place another cup on top so that the mouths of the cup touch each other. Help the child tape both cups together. Place in a area where they can be easily see, but out of in\mmediate reach & in moderate sunlight. As the water in the terrarium evaporates, it condenses on top & "rains" back down on the plant. *Jungle Scene - - - Cut a corrugated cardboard base for the centerpiece. Glue on pieces of construction paper to represent grass and a water hole. Glue on cardboard tubes as tree trunks. Cut tissue paper leaves and glue them to the tops of the trees. Cut a monkey from paper and glue it to a tree. Add an elephant and a lion near the watering hole. *Alligator Puppet Draw and cut out the eyes, nose and the upper section of the alligators mouth from construction paper. Glue them to the bottom of the paper bag. Draw and cut out the inside of the mouth and the two front feet from paper. Glue them to the front of the bag. Attach a tail to the back of the bag. Place your hand inside the bag and curve your fingers over the fold to move the puppet. *Older children --- Safari Dictionary (kinda like Pictionary) Write words that relate to a safari on pieces of paper and place them in a bag. Some examples are lion, tiger, jeep, camera, guide, tent, canteen, etc...... One player from a team picks a word from the bag and tries to draw its meaning on a large drawing tablet or a roll of brown wrapping paper. His or her teammates try to guess the word within one minute. If the team guesses the word in time, one point is scored. If they don't guess it, no points are awarded and the first player on the other team chooses a word and draws for his or her team. The first team to score 10 points wins. *Backyard Safari Plan an outdoor safari in your backyard. Make pretend cameras from old cheque boxes and toilet paper rolls. Eat trail mix for snack. Hunt in the backyard safari for interesting sticks, leaves, etc. Have each child make a safari collage from the treasures he/she found. We also painted cheetah--use a precut cheetah shape (we usually don't use many precut shapes--but we did with this unit) and we found a brown Kid's paint in a bottle (looked like a Bingo dauber) and they painted the spots! Lacing Bear Shapes Cut brown posterboard into bear shapes and let them punch holes around the edges. Let the children choose pieces of colorful yarn (dip the yarn tips in glue and let dry or wrap with tape to keep them from fraying) ... lace the yarn through the holes. You could even have available a teddy bear hole punch instead of the circle type punch. Here is a cute little table centerprice for jungle animals., and its edible, too! Pick an apple that will stand up by itself nicely. Cut the apple in half, horizontally. Place the two cut ends in a little lemon juice, to retard browning) Cut a plastic straw into 3 equal pieces. Pick 3 jungle animals from a pkg. of animal crackers. Place the straws into the bottom half of an apple evenly. Attach each animal cracker with a dot of peanut butter. Press top half of apple into bottom half of apple. Instant animal carousel. * Cookie cutter and sponges of Jungle animals - printing *manipulatives - small Jungle animals (goodie bag stuffers) and strawberry basket cages for sorting * block center - sent a note home to send in Jungle type stuffed animals and we built a zoo from lg cardboard blocks *dramatics - added "vet" supplies to dramatics center *outdoors/gross motor - set up an obsticle course, make binoculars from TP tubes, hang up laminated pics of wild/zoo animals around the course, and go on a safari! *Circle - Goin' on a Lion Hunt * A collage from animal crackers Animal Cracker Art is a great project and requires very little prep time. Supplies needed: * Light Blue Construction paper * Animal Crackers * Glue * Crayons or markers (Crayons work better) Give each child a sheet of light blue construction paper and let them create a scene for their animal crackers to appear in. (They have a much easier time if you prepare an example for them to look at). After each child has completed their scene just glue the animal crackers to their picture. This is a great project for the children to do,and we finished off the box of Animal Crackers when we completed the project. *A giraffe shape orange paper, and sponge paint it with black paint to make spots * I also change my room into a jungle for the unit. I put up pictures of jungle animals around the room, the house centre is changed into a library with books about jungle animals. I also hang leaves (cut out of large green construction paper) and vines (large green construction paper cut out in a spiral pattern) from the ceiling. From the vines I hang construction paper monkeys and bananas. I usually do this after the children leave so when they come in the next day they find their room has turned into a jungle. To go along with this I read the book, "Where the Wild Things Are". * After taking about what animals live in the jungle, I ask the children to draw and cut out three or more animals that live in the jungle. We make binoculars out of toilet paper rolls. When the children are not there, I tape the pictures out in the hall and then we go out on a safari. The children are to find the pictures that belong to them. Let's Talk While showing the children pictures of some Jungle animals, ask questions: What animals do we find in the Jungle? Which ones are dangerous? Which ones are loud? Different animals need different shelters for reasons of climate, habits, size, etc. Discuss these things using pictures. *I recently came accross this web page that I thought could spark a little interest for the rain forest theme. http//haskell.cs.yale.edu/sjl/froggy/origami/origami.html *Here's a great site for rainforest info.Just click on the BLUE. Kids' Action (Keyword to: http://www.ran.org/ran/kids_action/index.html) Songs & Fingerplays: African Animals Giraffe are tall, with necks so long. Elephants' trunks are big and strong. Zebras have stripes and can gallop away, While monkeys in the trees do sway. Old crocodile swims in a pool so deep, Or lies in the sun and goes to sleep. YAK Yickity-yackity, yickity-yak, the yak has a scriffily, scraffily back, some yaks are brown yaks and some yaks are black, yickity-yackity, yickity-yak. Sniggildy-snaggildy, sniggildy-snag, the yak is all covered with shiggildy-shag; he walks with a ziggildy-zaggildy-sag, sniggildy-snaggildy, sniggildy-snag. I do a picture of a yak and have the kids glue yellow yarn on it's coat so we have alot of interesting discussions of yaks Rhinoceros A rhinoceros, rhinoceros. Sometimes he makes a dreadful fuss. He has a big horn on his nose. He snorts and rumbles as he goes. He's very long and very wide. He has a very wrinkled hide. He has big hoofs on his four feet. We feed him grass and hay to eat. A rhinoceros, a rhinoceros Is surely not a pet for us. "Boa Song" I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor, boa constrictor, boa constrictor. I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor, Now what do you think of that? Oh no---he's got my toe Oh gee---he's has my knee Oh my---he's up to my thigh Oh fiddle---he's up to my middle Oh heck---he's up to my neck I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor, boa constrictor, boa constrictor. I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor No! No! No! (In a high squeaky voice) Mr. Lion and his Sneeze Mr. Lion said, "I am going to Sneeze!" (Point to self) So he put his head down between his knees! (put head down between knees) He opened his mouth and out it flew (open mouth) A GIANT SUPER LOUD....ACHOOOO!!!! (kids sneeze loudly) The jungle floor jiggled and the trees all wiggled (kids wiggle and jiggle body) And the birds were flown to Bombay (make flying motion with hands) And the elephants were tossed every which way (slap hands on knees) Mr. Lion looked up and roared (have kids pretend to look up) "Oh my, a windstorm just passed by! Itsy Bitsy Monkey A piggyback song, to the tune of I.B. Spider...the kids love this one! The Isty Bitsy monkey climbed up the coconut tree. ("Climb" up the tree, by alternating cupped hands one on top of the other in the air.) Down came a coconut & hit him on his knee---OWWW!!!! (Make a double fist above head & hit your knee on "ow!") Out came a lion a-shakin' his mighty mane---ANNND--- (Frame your face with your hands, fanning fingers out for mane. Shake head & hands. Slow down tempo on "And") The Itsy Bitsy monkey climbed up the tree again! (Increased the tempo & climb back up the tree) ***The Elephant Walks*** The elephant walks Like this and that He's terribly tall And terribly fat He's got no fingers He's got no toes But goodness gracious What a nose! But goodness gracious What a nose! Actions:- Line 1/2: part knees and rock from side to side Line 3: hold hand up high Line 4: hold hands out wide Line 5: wriggle fingers Line 6: wriggle toes Line 7: wave arm in front of face like a trunk Croco-o-dile Look at the terrible croc-o-dile I-ho, I-ho, I-ho, He's swimming down the river nile I-ho, I-ho, I-ho, See his jaws are open wide I-ho, I-ho, I-ho, A dear little fish is swimming inside Oh,no he isnt,he's going the other way. Actions * To be done in pairs. First person moves 2 hands together in the shape of crocodile jaws. *verse 2: the other person begins to move one finger towards the snappy jaws and then pulls its quickly away while the words at the end are spoken. *Going on a Tiger Hunt*** Going on a tiger hunt Gonna catch a big one. I'm not scared. Oh, look ! There's some ooey, gushy mud. Let's go through. Glump! Glump! Glump! There's some long, wavy grass. Let's walk through There's a river - no bridge. Let's swim across. There's a big tree. Let's climb up and look. Oh, look, a great big cave. Let's climb down and look! We're in the cave. Everybody light a match. Oh, look ! A big pair of yellow eyes. The tiger !!! RUN !!! Actions:- line 1/2. hold arms out wide 3. point to self and shake head 4. shade eyes with hand, peer into the distance 5. make squishy noises 6. curl fingers and move them up and down 7. more squishy noises 8. make wavy grass motions with hands 9. part grass with hands 10. act startled 11. make swimming motions 12. arms up for tree 13. make climbing motions, fist over fist. 14. circle hands over eyes to make binoculars 15. motion downwards 16. use soft spooky voice. 17. scratch imaginary match 18. act surprised 19. startle and gasp 20. retrace steps back to the beginning "Phew". Guess The Jungle Animal I have baggy skin I am very big I pick up peanuts with my long nose. (I'm a elephant) I am big I have a load roar I am the king of the jungle. (I'm a lion) I am small I am funny I like to copy I have a long, curly tail. (I'm a monkey) I have feathers I have a beak I put my head into a hole in the ground. (I'm a ostrich) The Yellow Giraffe The yellow giraffe is tall as can be. (put hands up high) His lunch is a bunch of leaves off a tree. (put arm up for tree branches) He has a very long neck and his legs are long too. (point to neck and legs) And he can run faster than his friends in the zoo. (run in place) Hope these help... * Paper Plate Lions On the back of a yellor or orange paper plate draw a central circle about 2 inchs fron the edge. Draw lines from the circle to the outer rim of the plate (make 13 equal sections). Have the kids cut the lines & fold every other one foreword to make a mane. Use markers to make a lion's face & add a tuff of hair. * "Boa Song" I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor, boa constrictor, boa constrictor. I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor, Now what do you think of that? Oh no---he's got my toe Oh gee---he's has my knee Oh my---he's up to my thigh Oh fiddle---he's up to my middle Oh heck---he's up to my neck I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor, boa constrictor, boa constrictor. I'm being swalloed by a boa constrictor No! No! No! (In a high squeaky voice) * "Ha - Ha Hippo" (tune: "Baa Baa Black Sheep) Ha-Ha hippo, have you any hair? Hurrah, hurrah, you have hair. Hair for my horses & hair for my hog, And hair for my "H", Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! Ha-Ha hippo, have you any hair? Hurrah, hurrah, you have hair. (For hair can substitute: Hats, hammer, or houses) * Ten Baby Kangaroos - poem Ten baby kangaroos standing in a row When they see their mama, they bow just so (bow) They kick to the left (kick to the left) They kick to the right (kick to the right) Then they close their eyes & sleep all night. (pretend to sleep) *other verses: repeat the poem, going down a number each time - that is, begin with "Nine baby kangeroos." and so on *Another book that you might want to check into is CROCODILE, CROCODILE BY BARBARA BAUMGARTNER published by Dorling Kindersly. Lots of short stories and tales from around the world. *A good book for jungle " Wise Monkey Tale" I can't remember the authors name. the story line is about a monkey walking through the jungle eating banana bread and falls in a hole and can't get out with out the help of the other jungle animals. This book is great for story telling. I will look up and see if I can find the author or maybe someone on the loop will know it. If possible decorate your doors with trees and make jungle animals to go around it so when the children come in they can see all the animals that live in the jungle. Have fun with this theme I will send more this week need to look in my files. *Mr. Lion and his Sneeze Mr. Lion said, "I am going to Sneeze!" (Point to self) So he put his head down between his knees! (put head down between knees) He opened his mouth and out it flew (open mouth) A GIANT SUPER LOUD....ACHOOOO!!!! (kids sneeze loudly) The jungle floor jiggled and the trees all wiggled (kids wiggle and jiggle body) And the birds were flown to Bombay (make flying motion with hands) And the elephants were tossed every which way (slap hands on knees) Mr. Lion looked up and roared (have kids pretend to look up) "Oh my, a windstorm just passed by! *Itsy Bitsy Monkey A piggyback song, to the tune of I.B. Spider...the kids love this one! The Isty Bitsy monkey climbed up the coconut tree. ("Climb" up the tree, by alternating cupped hands one on top of the other in the air.) Down came a coconut & hit him on his knee---OWWW!!!! (Make a double fist above head & hit your knee on "ow!") Out came a lion a-shakin' his mighty mane---ANNND--- (Frame your face with your hands, fanning fingers out for mane. Shake head & hands. Slow down tempo on "And") The Itsy Bitsy monkey climbed up the tree again! (Incrased the tempo & climb back up the tree) *The Little Green Frog "MM, EH" went the little green frog one day. "MM, EH" went the little green frog. "MM, EH" went the little green frog one day. And his eyes went "MM, EH, MM!" (Close eyes and mouth on "MM" and open eyes and stick out tongue on "EH".) *We do that great frog song that Liz sent in also, but with a little twist... we sing "glunk glunk" for the first words.....and when we sing those words, we put our fingers up to the sides of our eyes, and touch our thumbs to the rest of our fingers...kind of like making a blinking motion (as if the frogs eyes were blinking) ... ...then after each verse we would sing: (for those who know the tune of the frog song....change tune for just this part.....to the tune of: the old grey mare just aint what she used to be and sing - but one day he went....la de da de da.....la de da de da....la de da de da.....but one day he went la de da de da....he didn't go glunk glunk glunk....... THE BEST PART is when you do the "la de da de" part.....the kids put their hands on their hips....and sway them back and forth....it is soooooo cute..... *A wise Monkey Tale by Betsy Maestro. This is a great book. * For a cooking activity You can make monkey bread or banana bread. Monkey bread Pillsbury bread dough 1 or 2 pkg Butter, sugar, and cinnamon Dab the butter over the bread dough and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake. this is one activity the children really can do all themselves. Place in the oven acording to directions cool them and enjoy eat. Making doughs. this is a good activity on cold and snowy days. buy pkf of biscut dough give each child a biscut have the children cut a hole in the middle and place it on a cookie sheet. bake acording to directions. let cool the children can them add jelly to their doughs sugarand cinnamon, powder sugar or icing. *Our kindergarten class does the rainforest every year and they do turn their room into one. They hang green crepe paper for the vines and attach birds, monkeys, butterflies and other rainforest speices. They also bring in products from the rain forest for the kids-coffee, spices, tea,e tc. I had them make up goodie bags made up of the products so that they could take them home. Some they could taste and others they could smell. It was really fun to wastch them taste the stange thngs. * Tie Snakes (especially appropriate for the rain forest theme) take one of dad's old/ugly ties- the busier the print the better. cut open on of the ends, and fill 2/3's all the way will polyfill (that pillow stuff). then, insert either a hanger you have made straight or a length of medium-light gauge wire. fill the rest of the way, and sew/glue/web-iron the tie closed again. the wire or hanger seems pretty important to giving the body some shape and letting you give it that "s" shape, but I guess you could skip that part if you had to. now, add googly eyes and the long tounge with the "v" shape at the end, and you have a rain forest andaconda! young ones should be able to most of the project! We left out the wire as it has a tendency to poke through the ends. When making your snake leave the tag on the underside, the children put the snake around their neck and put their finger through the tag to make them move. (we used dowling to poke the stuffing down the tie. *Make a tree all the way to the ceiling. have vines hanging from the ceiling, but not too low. maybe drape them from parts of the room. Have fun and let the kids take part as much as possible. * Another great idea for the Rainforest is to have snacks related tot he rainforest. We get a lot of what we eat from the plants of the rainforest. * Easel painting: Provide several shades of green paint (lighten & darken shades by adding white or a little black paint to the green). As a variaton, you could add a scent (mint extract?). * Terrariums: Fill (1) 8' or 9" clear plastic cup with potting soil. Cup should be about 3/4 full. Plant nonpoisionous plant cuttings, covering the roots well. (Another suggestion is to use grass seed. Sprinkle on top of soil but don't cover.) Water lightly. Place another cup on top so that the mouths of the cup touch each other. Help the child tape both cups together. Place in a area where they can be easily see, but out of in\mmediate reach & in moderate sunlight. As the water in the terrarium evaporates, it condenses on top & "rains" back down on the plant. *Rain Sticks from Doodles and Oodles of Art by Iris Siegler and Kim Torgerson MATERIALS: x Heavy tubes (For example, the ones that postal supply places have for posters. They have lids that come off at each end. You can use heavy gift wrap tubes and tape the ends shut. The true test of durability is whether the tube can withstand hammering small nails into it. Make sure the tube is a length that can be easily maneuvered by whoever will be using it.) x Sack full of nails (A good choice: drywall nails that are about 3 1/2" [8.87 cm] long. The size and number you will need will depend upon how wide and how long your tube is. Nails should not poke through the opposite side.) x Small hammer x Sack of aquarium gravel, rice or split peas x Markers, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylic paints x Optional: Large roll of clear tape (used for packing) PROCESS: Decorate your tube with markers, paints or any other art medium you would like to use. When dry, begin to hammer nails into the tube covering it top to bottom in random patterning. Tape one end of your tube if it doesn't have a lid. Fill with 1/2 cup (125 ml) aquarium gravel, rice or split peas. Cup the other end with your hand and roll back and forth. Do you want to add more gravel? Do you need more nails? If you are satisfied with your sounds of rain, then seal the tube at the other end with tape or the lid. You may want to tape around the tube with the clear tape so the nails will not come out and the design will be protected. And now, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain . . . *Jungle Scene - - - Cut a corrugated cardboard base for the centerpiece. Glue on pieces of construction paper to represent grass and a water hole. Glue on cardboard tubes as tree trunks. Cut tissue paper leaves and glue them to the tops of the trees. Cut a monkey from paper and glue it to a tree. Add an elephant and a lion near the watering hole. *Alligator Puppet Draw and cut out the eyes, nose and the upper section of the alligators mouth from construction paper. Glue them to the bottom of the paper bag. Draw and cut out the inside of the mouth and the two front feet from paper. Glue them to the front of the bag. Attach a tail to the back of the bag. Place your hand inside the bag and curve your fingers over the fold to move the puppet. *Monkey's Salad ---- Bananas, raisins, peanuts, shredded coconut - - peel and slice bananas into a small dish, alternate with raisins and peanuts. Top off with shredded coconut. *Older children --- Safari Dictionary (kinda like Pictionary) Write words that relate to a safari on pieces of paper and place them in a bag. Some examples are lion, tiger, jeep, camera, guide, tent, canteen, etc...... One player from a team picks a word from the bag and tries to draw its meaning on a large drawing tablet or a roll of brown wrapping paper. His or her teammates try to guess the word within one minute. If the team guesses the word in time, one point is scored. If they don't guess it, no points are awarded and the first player on the other team chooses a word and draws for his or her team. The first team to score 10 points wins> *paper plate frog craft Materials needed: 9 inch paper plate green construction paper (or white paper if colored green) glue green and black crayon Color paper plate green. Cut out frog legs - imagine the letter L, only make it a little puffier, kinda like you used to draw "bubble letters" when you were a teenager. Color the legs green if you used white paper instead of construction paper. Cut out legs. Draw a few misshaped black circles on the legs. Cut out 2 oval shapes from green construction paper, or color white ovals. Color a black circle at one end of the oval. These are the frogs eyes. Glue eyes onto plate, and glue legs onto plate. (cut out legs should be about 4 inches long, and 4 inches across. Make sure about 2 inches of the leg is glued onto plate. Glued legs should face this way on plate: __| |__ Draw a mouth on the frog like this: //\/\/\/\/\/\/\ You now have a frog! *Backyard Safari Plan an outdoor safari in your backyard. Make pretend cameras from old cheque boxes and toilet paper rolls. Eat trail mix for snack. Hunt in the backyard safari for interesting sticks, leaves, etc. Have each child make a safari collage from the treasures he/she found. (For those of you in the colder states you might wait until the snow melts for this theme day). Rainforests/Jungle *Terrariums are easy to make from plastic soda or water bottles. Have everyone bring a bottle with the label off. Cut bottle in half. Put pebbles and potting soil in the bottom half. Plant some small plants and water it sparingly. Use the top half with the cap on as the lid. Cut 4 1" places on the cut edge of the lid so as to allow it to fit over the bottom planted part. The plants will then water thenselves from condensation on the inside of the bottle. They last a long time without care. You add a ceramic rainforest animal. *Play a tape of rainforest sounds----the rainforest is never quiet. *Make newspaper trees by taking 3 sheets of newspaper and roll them up overlapping as you go. Tape the bottom. Cut about 4 or 6 slashes 1/3 of the way down the top. Gently pull up on one of the inside "leaves" and then you have a paper tree. *Get a book on indigenous people of the rainforest and face paint the children to look like the tribal people. Then string beads for tribal necklaces. *Make rainforest collages from rainforest products------coffee, sugar, tea. * Our class is working on "The Jungle". Yesterday we decorated our toilet paper binaculars and went on a Safari. I hid animals all over and we pretended to put on our backbacks, hats etc. Then we stopped in the middle cause it was so hot and had a pretend drink of water and put on our sunscreen. *A few good books: The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry Rainforest Nature Search by Sterry and Robinson Exotic Rainforests by Anita Ganeri Here Is the Tropical Rain Forest by Madeleine Dunphy At Home in the Rainforest by Diane Willow How Green Are You? by David Bellamy *If you decorate the room to look like a rainforest, you could use some steam vaporizers. This will enable the children to understand more about the type of weather that is found in the rainforest. *draw and color a picture of a rainforest. As they finished, they dictated a few words to me about their pictures. I compiled the papers into a classbook. I'm using it as my pre-assessment of their "rainforestness" . Tomorrow, I'll be talking to the children about the four levels of a rainforest. The emergent level is the top level of the rainforest. The canopy is the next layer where monkeys, apes and exotic plants live. The canopy is like living under a big green umbrella. The understory is the next layer. It is the home of bats, frogs, butterflies and many other animals. Finally is the forest floor. It's dark on the rainforest floor because the trees keep most of thelight out. *As a class activity, the children will be dipping their palms in green paint to make palm prints covering several large sheets of paper. Once dry, these will serve as a background for our class rainforest. As we learn about the rainforest we will add food, plants, and animals to our mural. *I'm working on an idea for paper plants that we can hang from our ceiling. *In an effort to visually inspire students about the animals of the rainforest,students will construct a variety of simple puppets. The butterfly can be made out of paper cut into a butterfly shape>Fold paper in 1/2 & cut out shape.On the fold staple a straw for the child to hold . * The frogs can be made by cutting out simple frog shapes & gluing a stick or staple a straw to the frog. The toucans can be done like the frogs using a bird shape.You might try cutting 2 beaks & using 2 brass brads so that that can move.Experiment. * THREE TALKING TOUCANS THREE TALKING TOUCANS SITTING IN A TREE THE FIRST ONE TURNED & SQUAWKED AT ME! THREE LIITTLE TOUCANS SITTING IN A ROW THE SECOND ONE SAID"I FLAP MY WINGS,WATCH ME GO!" THREE LITTLE TOUCANS SITTING SIDE BY SIDE THE THIRD ONE SAID"MY BRIGHT BEAK,I OPEN WIDE!" THREE FROLICKING RED EYED TREE FROGS THREE LITTLE FROGS SITTING IN A TREE THE FIRST ONE TURNED & JUMPED TOWARDS ME! THREE LITTLE LITTLE FROGS HOPPING ALL ABOUT THE SECOND ONE SAID "AT NIGHT'S WHEN I COME OUT!" THREE LITTLE FROGS LEAPING TREE TO TREE THE THIRD ONE SAID"HEY,WAIT FOR ME! THE MIGHTY MORPHO BUTTERFLIES THREE MORPHO BUTTERFLIES GLIDING THROUGH THE TREES THE FIRST ONE SWOOPED TO TAKE A LOOK AT ME! THREE MORPHO BUTTERFLIES SITTING ON A LEAF THE SECOND ONE WAS TRYING TO EAT SOMETHING SWEET! THREE MORPHO BUTTERFLIES FLITTING ALL ABOUT THE THIRD ONE LANDED ON MY SNOUT! My kids love to act out the these verses.I pick 3 children & as I read they do what the verse states.I will continue until all the children have had a turn.This works well w/any verse that has a numerals in it. *We did a frog's day today and my kids really loved a craft that we made (definately a craft not an art project but fun). We took corks and colored them green with crayon. Then we took a green pipe cleaner and wrapped it around the cork, twisted it, then bent the long ends into frog shaped legs. A string that had been tied to the pipe cleaner can be used to pull the floatable frog through water. Sheesh, such a simple thing and the kids played with them all day! I'm sure they were in some bathtubs tonight. *I recently came accross this web page that I thought could spark a little interest for the rain forest theme. http//haskell.cs.yale.edu/sjl/froggy/origami/origami.html *Here's a great site for rainforest info.Just click on the BLUE. Kids' Action (Keyword to: http://www.ran.org/ran/kids_action/index.html) *Jungle Animal Centerpiece (Edible) Pick an apple that will stand up by itself nicely. Cut the apple in half, horizontally. Place the two cut ends in a little lemon juice, to retard browning). Cut a plastic straw into 3 equal pieces. Pick 3 jungle animals from a pkg. of animal crackers. Place the straws into the bottom half of an apple evenly. Attach each animal cracker with a dot of peanut butter. Press top half of apple into bottom half of apple. Instant animal carousel. * I also change my room into a jungle for the unit. I put up pictures of jungle animals around the room, the house centre is changed into a library with books about jungle animals. I also hang leaves (cut out of large green construction paper) and vines (large green construction paper cut out in a spiral pattern) from the ceiling. From the vines I hang construction paper monkeys and bananas. I usually do this after the children leave so when they come in the next day they find their room has turned into a jungle. To go along with this I read the book, "Where the Wild Things Are". * After taking about what animals live in the jungle, I ask the children to draw and cut out three or more animals that live in the jungle. We make binoculars out of toilet paper rolls. When the children are not there, I tape the pictures out in the hall and then we go out on a safari. The children are to find the pictures that belong to them. *Animal Cracker Art is a great project and requires very little prep time. Supplies needed: * Light Blue Construction paper * Animal Crackers * Glue * Crayons or markers (Crayons work better) Give each child a sheet of light blue construction paper and let them create a scene for their animal crackers to appear in. (They have a much easier time if you prepare an example for them to look at). After each child has completed their scene just glue the animal crackers to their picture. This is a great project for the children to do,and we finished off the box of Animal Crackers when we completed the project. *TAKE A WALK IN THE RAINFOREST There are four levels of the rainforest.Let's take a walk & see. The Emergent Level of the rainforest is the tops of the tallest trees. Vultures,Mosquitoes,flying Geckos Glide on skin from head to toe Harpy eagles almost four feet tall Look around 'cause that's not all There are four levels of the rainforest.Let's take a walk & see. If we could bend way back & look up high,we'd see the Canopy. Fruit Bats,Toucans Parakeets too And Howler Monkeys,to name a few It looks like broccoli we would say From the window of a plane on a sunny day There a four levels of the rainforest.Let's take a walk & see. Look straight up,we will find what's called the Understory. Bromeliads and orchids are called Epiphytes They grow without soil at different heights Butterflies,Tree Frogs,& hummingbirds Are some of the sounds that can be heard There is one more level of the rainforest.We've reached the number four. The lowest level of the rainforest is simply called the Floor. Clay and sand & fallen leaves Mold & fungus,buttressed roots of trees Insects,Millipedes,crocodile Anacondas & natives who love to smile. At the four levels of the rainforest ...let's take a walk & see. There are four levels of the rainforest.Name them now with me. Emergent Layer & canopy Are one & two.Let's go for three. The Understory,don't forget number four The lowest level,the forest Floor. *Little froggy (tune: I'm a little teapot) See the little froggy Swimming in the pool The water's great- It's nice and cool when he gets all cleaned up Out he'll hop Squeeky clean From bottom to top. See the little froggy On the lily pad Trying to catch flies She's getting sad. When she catches one, She'll gobble it up Back in the water She'll go kerplop! *Baby Frogs Ribbit Ribbit said mama frog Sitting on a great big log "Where are my babies, where can they be? Then out of the pond jumped one, two and three. (Hold up three fingers , one at a time) She was happy as could be, But where were the other? She couldn't see. So, "Ribbit, ribbit," she called again. The out they jumped---4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10. (hold up remaining fingers one at a time) * Five little freckled frogs setting on a speckled log (5 fingers on bent arm) Eating the MOST delicious bugs, yum, yum! (pick bugs out of air, rub tummy) One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool, (finger hops in pool) Then there were four freckled frogs! Continue with four frogs, then three, and so on. Then there were NO freckled frogs! * For our wall/bulletin board we did a zoo train. I cut out the engine and about 20 cars. The kids found zoo animal picture, cut them out and glued them onto the cars. We also labled each ofthe cars with the animal names. * A collage from animal crackers *A giraffe shape orange paper, and sponge paint it with black paint to make spots * Cookie cutter and sponges of zoo animals - printing *manipulatives - small zoo animals (goodie bag stuffers) and strawberry basket cages for sorting * block center - sent a note home to send in zoo type stuffed animals and we built a zoo from lg cardboard blocks *dramatics - added "vet" supplies to dramatics center *outdoors/gross motor - set up an obsticle course, make binoculars from TP tubes, hang up laminated pics of wild/zoo animals around the course, and go on a safari! *Circle - Goin' on a Lion Hunt *Fluffy Birds Glue 2 popsicle sticks together to form a cross. Glue real colored or paper feathers onto the cross leaving the top for a head. Glue paper head on top OR use markers as eyes & beak. * Zany Zebras Give each child a construction paper picture of a zebra with no stripes, mane, or tail. Use a fine brush or Q-tip & have them make stripes with black tempera paint. When paint dries, glue strips of florecent paper on neck & tail. Have the kids fringe paper.