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18 Rainforest Activities For Kids That Are Fun and Educational

March 15, 2023 //  by  Louise Pieterse

Rainforest lessons are always lots of fun with tons of craft and activity possibilities. Kids can learn about all the fun jungle animals and the complex nature of the forest ecosystems. The rainforest is colorful and adventurous and kids love learning all the ins and outs of this diverse landscape. Here is a look at 18 fantastic rainforest activities to add to your next lesson to help kids get their creative juices flowing.

1. Rainforest Flip Book

Download these fun rainforest flipbooks filled with adorable images of forest critters. Each flipbook comes with a set of animal cards that kids need to match to the book’s pages. The colorful cards are big enough for little hands and there are tons of games you can play with them.

Learn More: File Folder Heaven

2. Rainforest Fine Motor Activity

Just with a simple piece of wood and a few clothes pegs you can create a great fine motor activity that replicates the Brazilian rainforest. Let little hands place decorated pegs on the tree where they think animals belong in the forest.

Learn More: Teach Play Repeat

3. Make Binoculars

Let kids use their imaginations and become explorers with this fun rainforest activity. Use toilet paper rolls as binoculars and let kids go on a hunt for exotic rainforest animals that you have hidden around the classroom.

Learn More: The Crafting Chicks

4. Toucan Handprint Craft

Kids love learning about the fantastic and colorful array of birds of the magnificent rainforest. Let them create their very own toucan bird shape using colored construction paper for their bills and a googly eye for a fun addition.

Learn More: I Heart Arts n Crafts

5. Origami Frogs

The fascinating frogs of the Amazonian community are often students’ favorite animals. Use colored construction paper to fold these fun origami frogs. Kids can make up interesting names for them and even try to explain which characteristics their frogs have.

Learn More: Easy Peasy and Fun

6. Rainforest Writing Tray

Little fingers love drawing in writing trays so use this opportunity to make it rainforest-themed! Print out letters or words associated with the theme and let kids draw in green sand with a stick. Their very own rainforest writing pad!

Learn More: The Imagination Tree

7. Rainforest Layers With Plants

The layers of the rainforest are fascinating for kids to discover. Let them use leaves and twigs that they find outside to portray the jungle canopy and let them label the different layers as they go.

Learn More: weeSTEMS

8. Color Changing Chameleon

Chameleons are amongst the most fascinating and reclusive animals that you’ll find in the rainforest. In this creative project, you’ll teach your kids all about how these creatures blend into their jungle habitats by changing colors as they go. Simply start by having them color a paper plate in any number of colors that they wish before allowing them to fasten a pre-cut chameleon-shaped plate on top. Then, invite them to twist the two plates in opposite directions to see how their chameleons change colors right before their eyes!

Learn More: PBS Kids For Parents

9.  Build the Biggest Kapok Tree

This fun rainforest activity will let the little ones compete to see who can build the highest Kapok tree. These giant trees can be replicated with building blocks, toilet paper rolls, and green craft sticks. See who’s tree measures the tallest before they come tumbling down.

Learn More: Preschool STEAM

10. Rainforest Parrot Tree

This is one of the best Amazon Rainforest Activities and every Pre-K teacher loves the way it brightens up the classroom. Kids cut out their handprints from colored paper and decorate the colorful parrots to create their own tree full of birds.

Learn More: Nafeuse’ Magazine

11. Do A Jungle Dance

A fun jungle dance is a great way to get kids pumped up for the lesson to come. Get them on their feet and ready to sing and dance along to this fun rainforest animal movement boogie.

Learn More: Pinkfong Baby Shark

12. Read a Rainforest Story

There are tons of rainforest-themed books that are both educational and entertaining. End each rainforest lesson with a thrilling story of adventure in the rainforest or jungle and let their imaginations run wild while reading these nature-themed books.

Learn More: Home School Pre School 

13. Matching Game

Help kids to learn the names of some of the most interesting rainforest species with a classic game of memory match. The cards feature their favorite rainforest animals and kids can give you some fun facts of the animals they are able to match.

Learn More: Life Over C’s

14. Anaconda Craft

This rainforest animal craft project lets kids learn about the amazing Amazon anaconda. Decorate dry pasta and string them up to create fun slithering snakes. Dried pasta also makes great counters and kids can learn about patterns as their snakes grow.

Learn More: Mas and Pas

15. Sleepy Sloths

These sleepy sloths are an excellent complement to a rainforest lesson. All you need is some craft sticks and colored paper to create these adorable animals. Hang them around the class as decorations or use them as part of a classroom exhibit to depict the rainforest ecology.

Learn More: Tippy Toe Crafts

16. Tree Snake Craft

There are tons of easy snake crafts for some in-class rainforest fun. Some green paper is perfect for a paper chain snake that can hang around the classroom to make it feel like a real rainforest.

Learn More: The Craft Train

17. Rainforest Writing Task

The Great Kapok Tree is one of the best rainforest-related books and an excellent topic for a writing task. Let kids make this fun tree craft and add information to the leaves that they learned during storytime.

Learn More: Little Beans

18. Rainforest I-Spy

This fun rainforest activity combines coloring and counting while letting students apply their learned knowledge to find the animals. Give them clues to which animal they should search for by listing different characteristics of the animals.

Learn More: Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten

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13 Activities to Help Teach Your Students About the Wild and Wonderful Rainforest

Learn about the different levels of the rainforest and the animals that live there!

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Did you know that more than 5 million species of plants, animals and insects call the rainforest home? Or that the Amazon Rainforest is 55 million years old and covers 2.1 million square miles? It’s a fascinating topic  and one that students love spending time on. Here are 13 interesting and engaging rainforest activities to get your kids excited about learning more.

 1. Rainforest Habitats Flipbook

This flipbook is one of our favorite rainforest activities! It doubles as a coloring book and includes a page for each layer of the rainforest! Watch students’ eyes widen as they learn fun facts such as; The Goliath Birdeater Tarantula is the size of a dinner plate with its legs spread out? 😲 And yes… it earned its name because it’s so big that it can eat birds. (Cue the classroom gasp!)

 2. Shoebox habitat diorama

SOURCE: First Palette

Your students will love this activity that lets them learn all about the rainforest as they create a beautiful diorama. Great for a multi-day project, get the full materials list and step-by-step directions.

3. Tower habitat diorama

Source: a faithful attempt.

Older kids can build this incredible multi-level diorama tower as they learn all about the layers of the rainforest, from the forest floor to the emergent layer.

4. Rainforest songs

SOURCE: KindyKats

Check out these 20 fun sing-along songs that teach kids all about the rainforest and the animals that live there. They’ll learn about leopards, poison dart frogs, Blue Morpho butterflies, and more!

5. Rainforest terrarium

Source: Natural Beach Living

This is one of the most classic rainforest activities. Dig in and create a mini-ecosystem with your students. Collect large jars or cut the top of liter soda bottles for the container, layer pebbles and moss inside, and then add tropical plants and your favorite rainforest animals.

6. Bird beak science activity

SOURCE: Mystery Science

Start off by having students watch this 10-minute background knowledge video. Then do your own science experiment, using simple materials like Dixie cups and plastic straws, to learn all about how birds’ beaks work.

7. Rainforest animal crafts

SOURCE: Momendeavors

Check out this amazing roundup of rainforest animal craft projects. From stick bugs and chameleons to sloths and toucans to anacondas, there are plenty of creatures to choose from.

8. Rainforest Bingo

SOURCE: Lifeovercs

Rainforest Bingo is a great way to get your students excited about learning all about rainforest animals. Perfect as a whole group or station activity.

9. Printable writing activities

SOURCE: In All You Do

Add these rainforest writing tasks to your writing block. From copy work for preschoolers to writing prompts for older students, this bundle has 63 pages for you to choose from.

10. Movement cards

SOURCE: Pink Oatmeal

Flutter like a butterfly, balance like an iguana, pounce like a tiger. Get your students up out of their chairs with these fun rainforest animal movement cards.

11.   Rainforest yoga

SOURCE: Kids Yoga Stories (photo on left)  and Pink Oatmeal (photo on right)

Pretend to be a gorilla, spider monkey or scarlet macaw with these healthy yoga poses just for kids.

12. Kids’ rainforest stories

SOURCE: Rainforest Alliance

What would your life be like if your backyard was a rainforest? Expand your students’ horizons with these stories about children their age living across the world in rainforest communities.

13. File folder game

SOURCE: Itsy Bitsy Fun

File folder games are a great, and easy to keep together, resource for center activities. This fun game helps your students match rainforest animals with their jungle habitat.

Plus, here are our favorite books to pair with rainforest activities! 

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Rainforest Ideas and Resources

It’s time for one of my favorite units of the year…rainforests!  I absolutely love teaching about the rainforest.  It’s so engaging for students.  Even though we can’t visit a tropical rainforest where we live, they connect to what we learn about and can transfer the big ideas to our local ecosystems.  

Rainforest Books

There are a ton of great nonfiction and fiction books out there on the rainforest.  Here are some of my favorites to read.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission.  You will never infer a fee or charge for this.

• Smart Kids Rainforest
• A Rainforest Habitat
• In the Rainforest
• Magic School Bus: The Rainforest
• The Great Kapok Tree
• Rain Forest Animal Adaptations
• The Umbrella
• If I Ran the Rainforest
• Amazon Rainforest
• Step into the Rainforest

Center Ideas

I also pull out the rainforest math and literacy centers.  You can read more about them here .

Once we have learned some basics about rainforests, each of my students research and write a rainforest animal report.  They love this!  I pull articles about various rainforest animals from my Rainforest Animal Close Read packs.

And throughout all of this, we are always adding to our interactive notebooks.  I pull resources from the Rainforest interactive notebook pack.  The kids love it!

I’ve been collecting ideas and resources on a Pinterest board.  Click the picture below to find some more inspiration!

Follow The Teacher Bag’s board Rainforest Resources on Pinterest.

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Rainforest habitat primary resource

Explore the fascinating features of a rainforest habitat.

This primary resource introduces children to life in the rainforest. Discover the features of a rainforest habitat. How much rain does a rainforest receive each year? Which animals make their homes in the rainforest? What portion of the Earth’s land surface does the rainforest cover?

Pupils will learn about different kinds of creatures that live in the rainforest and the conditions that they require of their habitat in our National Geographic Kids’ Science primary resource sheet.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for discussion about what creatures live in the rainforest, and how they are adapted to do so. It could be used as a printed handout for each pupil to review and annotate, or for display on the interactive whiteboard using the images included in the resource for class discussion.

Activity: Ask children to use the facts provided and their own research to write a rainforest fact sheet of their own. Pupils could choose one of the facts to research further and write a report on (i.e. using the fact ‘80% of the flowers in the Australian rainforests are not found anywhere else in the world’, pupils could write a report on why that is the case, looking at the features and adaptations of rainforest plants).

N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa , Australia and New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: [email protected]

This Science primary resource assists with teaching the following Key Stage 1 Science (Year 2) objectives from the National Curriculum :

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other
• identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro- habitats

National Curriculum Lower Key Stage 2 Science (Year 4) objectives :  

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

  Pupils should use the local environment throughout the year to raise and answer questions that help them to identify and study plants and animals in their habitat. They should identify how the habitat changes throughout the year.

This Science primary resource assists with teaching the following Sciences Early level objectives from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• I have observed living things in the environment over time and am becoming aware of how they depend on each other

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Sciences Third level objectives :

• I can sample and identify living things from different habitats to compare their biodiversity and can suggest reasons for their distribution

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Sciences Fourth level objectives :

• I understand how animal and plant species depend on each other and how living things are adapted for survival. I can predict the impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversity

Download primary resource

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Rainforests.

Rain forests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with annual rainfall in the case of tropical rainforests between 250 and 450 centimeters (98 and 177 in) and definitions varying by region for temperate rainforests. Rain forests play an invaluable role in sustaining life, but every year, large portions of them are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches. The rain forest is made up of four layers: emergent, upper canopy, under-story, and forest floor. Emergent trees grow far apart and tall, their branches reaching above the canopy. The upper canopy houses most of the rain forest's animal species, and forms a roof that blocks most light from reaching below it. The under-story, usually shaded and home to bushes and shrubs as well as the branches of canopy trees. The forest floor is in complete shade, meaning there is little likelihood of plants growing there and making it easy to walk through the forest. World Rainforest Day, Celebrated on June 22, is a collaborative effort to raise awareness and encourage action to save one of the earth’s most precious resources, our rainforest.

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Rainforest Homework Project

Subject: Geography

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

6 March 2017

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Adapted to remove the QR codes but overall a really useful resource. I'm going to set it as an optional home learning over Easter for those that need something to keep them sane with schools closed!

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The base idea was great. The document was extremely tough to edit though. The snake kept hyperlinking me around and I could not remove it. I am generally adept at technology, but the construction of this was tough. I love the choice board idea though!

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Rainforest Lesson Plans and Rainforest Activities for Kids

The best Rainforest Activities for Kids  are here. The Rainforest Lesson Plans printables are perfect for curious minds to learn all about the animals and their habitats in the rainforest. Your kids will learn the names and where they live while engaging with their imagination and creativity.

Your child is certain to love these Rainforest Lesson Plans!

Rainforest Activities for Kids

Rainforest Lesson Plans

These Rainforest Lesson Plans are perfect for hands-on learning or as a way to introduce a new concept into a homeschooling curriculum.

While we all may know what a rainforest is, do we know all the animals that are a part of it? Why not introduce your children to the wonderful world of the rainforest and see if they’re familiar with any of the animals that they’re about to study and learn about.

And who knows…you may surprise yourself as well with how much you can learn, too. Learning together with your child is always a lot of fun!

Rainforest Activities for Students

Rainforest theme.

Once you print off this Rainforest study guide, it’s easy to organize your activities in a way that makes sense for your children. That way, you and your child can dive in together and tackle learning all about it.

Rainforest Theme for Kids

And if you happen to have any stuffed or plastic rainforest animals in your home or classroom to use as part of the learning, bring them out! It’s always fun to have hands-on learning as well.

This Rainforest I Spy is a lot of fun as well. All you have to do is print it off and let your child see the pictures of things that they’re trying to find.

Make certain that they are educated about what they’re finding since that’s half the fun!

Rainforest Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarten

One of the coolest parts of these Rainforest themed worksheets is that they come with cards that talk about the animals and their lives.

This is super helpful when explaining to your child how rainforest animals differ from other types of animals.

Rainforest Printables

30 Pages of hands on activities.

• Rainforest Book List for Kids
• Rainforest Word Cards
• Layers of the Rainforest
• Food Chain Activities
• Notebooking Pages
• Animal Beginning Sound Words
• Rainforest Playdough Mat or animal mat 
• Animal Math Graphing
• Rainforest I SPY Activity with counting

Don’t forget to get your rainforest printable here! Perfect for homeschooling and helping to further educate your child about all the wonders of the world.

Rainforest Theme Worksheets

For even more learning printables , check out the Shark Week Printables and these Kindness Activities.

Do You have a favorite theme that you would love a unit study or hands-on activity bundle for? We would love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a comment below or sign up for our weekly newsletter for updates on new units coming out.

30+ Rainforest Activities for Kids

learn & teach about the Rainforest!

This themed unit study   teaches all about the rainforest, rainforest animals, the layers of the rainforest, food chain, and more..

Packed with   30 pages of learning activities , this rainforest study is perfect for your children or students.

Click here to learn more!

Rainforest Information A:visited { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:hover { FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR:red; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A:link { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: none }

Rainforest Websites

Rainforest at Night A Geographic interactive website that explores the Rainforest at Night.  Simply move your mouse over the page (like shining a spotlight) to discover photos and then click on the photo to learn additional facts.  www.nationalgeographic.com

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I teach computers at The Granville School and St. John's Primary School in Sevenoaks Kent.