Did you know that June 22 is World Rainforest Day? Rainforests can be so fun to learn about with your kids! With such a variety of animals and their beautiful and unique plants, there is so much to engage and inspire our children. Kids love to learn about the rainforest, and it’s a great way to fill these summer days!
The Animals
Mountain gorillas, the sloth, jaguars, parrots, poisonous frogs, howler monkeys, and the enormous anaconda are some of the animals you can learn about here at The Rainforest Alliance.
At Rainforest Animals, you can find simple one-page descriptions of different rainforest animals, and it’s categorized by mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
You can find another rainforest “animal index” at Active Wild, and it includes lists for insects and fish.
The rainforest has so many different types of animals. It will be fun to look over them with your kids and let them choose their favorites. Then, head to the library and find some books about the animals they choose. You can snuggle up with your little ones and get in some read aloud time, or you can send them off for some quiet time to look at the fun pictures in their books.
The Plant Life
Rainforests have vibrant, beautiful plants, as well as strange, unique plants. And there are so many different plants! In fact, there are over 40,000 plant species in the Amazon rainforest alone!
Over at Active Wild again, there is a list of tropical rainforest plants with descriptions and pictures. There are flowery bougainvilleas, bromeliads, and orchids, cool palm trees, humongous water lilies, and oozy rubber trees.
There’s another great rainforest plant and flower list here at BioExplorer.
Again, you can hunt through your library’s children’s science section and see what you can find about the plant life of the rainforest. You may even be able to find books with amazing photographs to enjoy with your kids. Books are an easy way to help kids love to learn about the rainforest.
The Layers of the Rainforest
I cannot explain why, but children love learning about the layers of the rainforest. Did you know that the rainforest is made up of 4 layers?
The emergent layer is the highest, with super tall trees. This is where monkeys, birds, and insects live.
Next is the canopy, where most of the rainforest animals live. It’s actually made up of branches and leaves that block sunlight from getting through to the layers below.
Then there is the understory. Since the canopy blocks out most of the light in the understory, only small plants, bushes, moss, and algae grow there. Lots of reptiles and bugs live in the understory.
Lastly, there is the bottom layer of the rainforest, the forest floor. Material from above falls and decays here. Insects live here too, as well as large animals like elephants, gorillas, tigers, and anteaters.
Kids really do love learning about the layers of the rainforest and the different forms of life in each layer. The Rainforest Alliance has some fun activities for kids here, and there are tons of printable coloring pages and worksheets for rainforest studies that you can find with a simple internet search.
We Have Some Fun Resources!
We have so many signs in our Signing Time Dictionary to help you in your rainforest studies! Check out our Nature section and our Animal section.
Our science series, Rachel & The TreeSchoolers, has shows about plants & flowers, insects, animals, and our Earth. These are all great resources to help your children in their rainforest learning. The entire Rachel & The TreeSchoolers series is wonderful for learning about all kinds of scientific topics!
And don’t forget, a digital subscription to My Signing Time gives your family access to all of our educational programming and content anytime from any device. You can try it for 14 days free right here!