Rainforest Activities
Little Passports is celebrating our Animals Wild subscription for kids ages 3-5 with a whole jungle of free rainforest activities . Immerse yourself in the wonders of the rainforest with a poem, two at-home craft activities, quick facts about two incredible creatures, and four fantastic printable activities. Enjoy!
RAINFOREST RACKET
Our calls make a thunderous sound.
They can be heard for miles around.
A few of us sound like a crowd
Because our voices are so loud.
We’re noisy at least twice a day
To tell intruders, “Stay away!”
A special bone inside our throat
Amplifies each booming note.
High in the tall trees’ canopy
We are as happy as can be,
Eating flowers, nuts, and fruits,
Leaves, and tender new green shoots.
Our tail helps us get a grip
So that we don’t slide and slip.
We use it like our hands and feet.
It’s handy for grabbing a treat!
The sprawling rainforest is our home,
Where more amazing creatures roam.
Who are we? Just take a guess!
Did you say howler monkeys? YES!
BUTTERFLY COLORING PAGES AND MORE
Ready for some coloring? Check out our butterfly coloring pages and more and get four free printables. Create beautiful butterfly cut-outs that perch on a rainforest you color yourself, find the moths snuggling with a sloth, guide a poison dart frog through a rainforest maze, and cut out and color six adorable rainforest animal pencil pals!
SNAKE SNACK ATTACK
Who says we shouldn’t play with our food? Kids will love assembling this tasty and healthy snack that doubles as an edible work of art!
Ingredients
- 3 slices of cucumber, each cut in half to create 6 semicircles
- 1 raisin
- 2 thin strips of red pepper
- Shredded carrots
- Hummus dip or another vegetable dip (optional)
- Broccoli florets (optional)
Directions
Step one
Adult: Slice the cucumbers, shred the carrots, and thinly slice red peppers.
Step two
Child: Put three pieces of cucumber side by side with the flat edges facing down.
Step three
Child: Put the remaining three cucumber pieces side by side with the flat edges facing up.
Adult: Help your child make sure they line up the bottom row of cucumber slices so that it is staggered and flush against the top row.
The snake is starting to take shape!
Step four
Child: Put a raisin on the first piece of cucumber for an eye. Next, add two strips of red pepper to create a forked tongue.
Step five
Child: Scatter shredded carrots below and around the snake for grass.
Adult: Ask your child to think of other kinds of fruits and vegetables to add to the scene. They could add broccoli trees and a river of hummus dip!
Now it’s sssnack time!
MAKE A RAINFOREST IN A JAR
Want your very own tiny rainforest to study? Try our rain forest garden in a jar activity and discover how condensation keeps rainforests wet whether it’s raining or not.
CREATURE QUICK FACTS
Toucan
Toucans are the delivery birds of the rainforests of Central and South America! They spread seeds from the plants they eat far and wide by spitting them out of their mouths. Then those seeds turn into plants that give the other creatures in the rainforest some tasty meals. And their colorful beaks aren’t just pretty, they’re useful, too! Toucans use them to reach food on high branches and deep inside tree trunks. Lucky for toucans, those great big beaks are lightweight, or else they wouldn’t be able to fly.
Okapi
Okapis live in dense rainforests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. Even though okapis look a lot like zebras, they’re actually relatives of giraffes. Just like giraffes, they have long tongues that help them to strip leaves from the branches of trees and plants.
Their purply-brown coloring and stripes make them hard to spot in the shady rainforest, and their sharp hearing allows them to hear anyone coming. Okapi babies have an unusual way to stay safe. They don’t poop for a month or two after they’re born—that way, predators can’t smell the poop and find them!