The rainforest preschool activities and crafts

Free Rainforest Crafts, Rhymes, Activities, and Printables

Jaguar Paw Print Tracing	Rainforest Puzzle Printable	Toucan Finger Puppet

Rain and the Rain Forest activities

Samples of our rain preschool activities and crafts

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

The Rainforest Animals Activities:

Over In the Rainforest
(Tune: Down in the Jungle)

Original Author Unknown

Have children slap their hands on their knees and clap them together to set a rhythm for the activity.

Over in the rainforest
With the beat in your feet,
Think of an animal
That you'd like to meet.
That you'd like to meet ________! (Call out child's name to name a rainforest animal.)

A (Tree Frog), A (Tree Frog) She wants to see a (Tree Frog)!

Let all of the children imitate the animal after it is called out (i.e., jumping or hopping for tree frogs). Repeat chant throughout the day or week until all children have had a turn to name a rainforest animal.

Five Little Specked Frogs
Let children pretend to be frogs sitting on a log.

Five little specked frogs, sitting on a speckled log.
Eating the most delicious bugs . . . YUMM, YUMM!
One jumped into a pool, where it was nice and cool,
Now there are 4 speckled frogs!

Continue 4, 3, 2, 1, none.

Estimating and Measuring:
Use some green glass pebbles to turn them into frogs. Place a large leaf shape on the table. Let children predict how many frogs will fit on the leaf. Taking turns, each child places a frog on the leaf as they count aloud. Stop when the leaf is full. How many frogs fit on the leaf? Let children recount and place the matching number below. Place a second leaf shape on the table and repeat. Which leaf had room for the most frog?

Finger Play: Three Talking Toucans

Three talking toucans sitting in a tree.
The first one turned and squawked at me!
Three little toucans sitting in a row.
The second one said "I flap my wings and go!"
Three litle toucans sitting side by side.
The third one said "My bright beak, I open wide!."

Leaf Cutter Ants

Leaves Visual Discrimination Activity and Game

Show children a picture of a  leaf cutter ant that lives in the rainforest. Fold a piece of green, red, and brown craft paper twice. Use the leaf shape pattern to trace the leaf shapes on to the paper. Cut out each leaf. Place two leaves of the same color on top of each other and make bite marks with the scissors. Place leaves on the table and let children find the matching leaves. 

Leaf Cutter Ants Fine Motor Skills
Let children use a handheld hole puncher to make bite marks all around a leaf shape.

Craft:
Let children use different green and brown tissue paper to create a large craft paper leaf. 

Movement Activity
Play music. Children walk around holding their leaf above their heads. When the music stops, children place the leaf on the floor. Choose a child to demonstrate how to carry the leaf for the next round of music. Holding it with one hand, holding it behind their backs, holding it with both hands in front of the body, balancing it on the head with one hand holding it, etc. 

Have children sing the song "The Ants Go Marching" while carrying their leaves. 

Leaves and Bugs Math Center
Print some leaves and label with a different number. Then, place some black pebbles inside a small container. Let children place the correct number of bugs (black pebbles) on each leaf.

Feed the Spider Sensory Table
Place a fake spiderweb in your sand table or in a shallow plastic tub. Add a supply of plastic bugs in the web. Place the printouts of the spiders on the table. Let children use tweezers to remove the bugs from the web and feed it to the spiders. Which spider caught the most bugs?

Visit Jan Brett's The Umbrella website for lots of great printables to make a rainforest mural.

More Jungle and Jungle Animals Preschool Activities and Crafts