Rainforest Vocabulary

Do you find it hard to think of rainforest vocabulary ideas for your class of preschool or kindergarten kids?

Well look no further. Have a look at some of the ideas below.

Tell What's missing!

This is a rainforest vocabulary version of a party game I used to play when I was young!

You will need to collect some rainforest items together such as a toy monkey, a plastic snake, a few bugs [not real!] a large leaf and any other things you can find relating to the theme.

Ask the kids to come and sit in a circle and put all your items in the middle.

Discuss with the kids where you might find such things. Let them touch and feel them and then take it in turns to tell you something about each item.

Then get them to close their eyes while you remove one item from the collection.

Then they have to see if they can tell you which item you have taken away!

To make it even more vocabulary focused. You can swap the rainforest items with letters of the alphabet.

Rainforest Vocabulary - Pineapple Talk

Show the children a pineapple and ask them to tell you what it is. [some of my kids hadn't a clue!]

Pass it round the table or circle and ask the kids to tell you a word that describes what it looks like or feels like.

Next cut off the outer knobbly skin, cut it into child sized chunks and allow them to taste it.

Invite them to tell you what they thought.

You could then make a graph to show who liked it and who didn't. Then count the numbers and calculate the difference between the 2 columns. [An added bonus. A bit of math!]

This could be used at snack time and be a fun way of extending rainforest vocabulary!

The Boa Constrictor

Rainforest Vocabulary - Boa Constrictor Poem

I use this song as a fun way of introducing rhyme to my kids.

I've found in all my years of teaching that getting children to find a words that rhyme is really difficult but if you do it through song then they seem to just get it!

They really love this one and it fits in well with the rainforest theme.

The Boa Constrictor.

I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor

A boa constrictor

I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor

And I don't like it one bit.

Oh no! He's up to my toe!

Oh my! He's up to my -------- thigh!

Oh mummy! He's up to my --------- tummy!

Oh fiddle! He's up to my ------- middle!

Oh hest! He's up to my ---------- chest!

Oh heck! He's up to my ------- neck!

You can carry on as long as you like putting in your own variations until ----

He's got me!!!

I like the kids to think of their own rhyming words once they get the gist of song . You ll be surprised at how good their ideas are! One more rainforest vocabulary idea!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr

Chikca Chicka Boom Boom Rainforest Vocabulary Activities

This book is really great for using in a rain forest vocabulary theme. It uses upper and lower case letters and makes learning the alphabet a whole lot more fun!

There are so many activities you can use Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for.

This is one idea to start with.

First hide some plastic letters in a bucket of sand.

Ask the kids to take turns to take a letter out of the bucket and say what it is.

You could make it a bit more difficult for older students by asking them to think of a word beginning with that letter.

When all the letters have been found. You can put them all back again by calling each letter out and the child with that letter must hide it in the sand.

Too easy? Make it harder by saying, 'The first letter of 'red', for 'r' or The last letter of 'rain' for 'n'

Finish by singing the ABC song.

Comprehension of the story

Next, introduce the book to the children telling them the name of the author and the illustrator.

Then invite them to tell you what they can see.

Have they seen a tree like this before? What do they see growing on the tree?

It might be a good idea to show them a picture of a real coconut tree and showing them where they can be found.

Read the story stopping every now and then to ask questions such as:

Do you think the whole alphabet will fit up the tree?

Have they ever climbed a tree? What was it like?

What do you think will happen to the tree if all the letters try to climb up?

What injuries did some of the letters have when they fell out of the tree?

Making their own Coconut Tree

Once you have read the book to the kids you can suggest they make their own coconut tree.

They will need

a piece of brown paper
a piece of green paper.
a pair of scissors
some glue.
a larger piece of blue cartridge paper to stick the tree onto.

They will also need a page from a paper or magazine to cut the letters out from.

What to do:

Ask them to draw an outline of a coconut tree on the brown paper and cut it out.

Next get them to draw some big palm leaves on the green paper and cut those out.

Then they stick the tree together with the leaves onto the blue background and all that remains is to cut the alphabet letters out of the magazine page or newspaper page and stick them on the tree.

Bingo! A Chicka chicka boom boom tree