Rainforest Unit: 75+ Page Packet

I’m excited to share our new 75+ page Amazon Rainforest Unit! Students will learn about the layers of the rainforest,rainfall, biodiversity, animals and insects of the rainforest, and more!

It includes notebook pages, animal and insect identification pages, animal and insect Montessori 3-part cards, layers of the rainforest worksheets and other activities.

The Amazon Rainforest is fascinating! It is the largest rainforest in the world and represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests.  The Amazon has the largest collection of plants and animals in the world. There are approximately 5 million different species of plants, animals and insects living in the Amazon!  One third of all birds species live in the Amazon and Earth receives 20% of its oxygen from the Amazon!

These are just a few of the things the kids learned as we dove into our Amazon Rainforest unit!

Here’s the table of contents for this packet:

• Rainforest Booklet
• Rainforest Notebook Pages
• Amazon Rainforest Facts – Notebook pages and answers
• Amazon Rainforest Biodiversity and Deforestation
• Map Work –South America – Brazil
• Amazon River Notebook Page and answers
• Average Rainfall in Temperate vs. Tropical Climates (Activity)
• Amazonian Animals Montessori 3-Part Cards
• Amazonian Animals Matching Page and answer sheet
• Animals of the Amazon Blank Research Cards
• Amazon Animal Fun Fact Tracing Pages
• Insects of the Amazon
• Insects of the Amazon, Montessori 3-Part Cards
• Insects of the Amazon Matching Page and Answer Sheet
• Insects of the Amazon blank research cards
• Layers of the Rainforest Activities

This unit was at the request of my daughter who really wanted to learn more about the Amazon (she’s in Grade 3 this year). I know many kids study the rainforest earlier, though, so this packet includes activities suitable for the younger students as well. I would say this packet would work well with ages 5 to 10+.  My older two are currently 11 and 13 and they learned quite a bit too. 🙂

$4.99 Amazon Rainforest Packet (75 pages) Quick Preview or visit the post or view image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7, image 8

New Pages Added! I have just added about 25 new pages to this packet.  This section covers Rainforests of the world.

To create the booklet, you need to print the pages out one-sided, then fold them in half and bind or staple along the left side.  Students will trace the key words and can color in the pictures provided.

If you have older students you can print out the fill-in-the-blank notebook pages that covers this same material.  There is also a full-text set of notebook pages provided.

I also added in a few new worksheets about the layers of the rainforest. (There are additional Layers of the Rainforest activities later in the packet.)

And now, here is what is included in the second portion of this unit: Amazon Rainforest Unit

Amazon Rainforest Notebook Pages: First, we went over some basic information about the Amazon. The Amazon Rainforest is, of course, the largest rainforest in the world and is home to many different species of animals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects and more!   We talked about the term biodiversity and the effect deforestation has on the region.

(Answer keys are included for the notebook pages, even if they aren’t pictured in the photos below.)

Animals of the Amazon: In this unit, the kids learned to identify over twenty Amazon animals.  These include the iguana, kinkajou, poison dart frog, tamarin, capybara, caiman, toucan and many more.  We printed out the Montessori 3-part cards and used them to match the animal and the name.  (We actually printed 2 sets per page.) For younger kids, you can print out two copies and use them as Montessori 3-part cards.  After going over those for a couple of days, the kids knew all the animals and were able to do the animal matching page easily! 🙂

If you have younger kids, you might want to purchase assorted rainforest animals (affiliate link) to match them with some of the Montessori 3-part cards.  My girls used plastics animals in their diorama (scroll down to see that). The rainforest toob (affiliate link) includes a red and blue macaw, red eye tree frog, poison dart frog, caiman, emerald tree boa, toco toucan, iguana, anteater, spider monkey, tapir, and a jaguar.  There is a slightly cheaper set of “rainforest” animals here, but the selection is not as good. It includes a number of animals from other parts of the world: Madagascar, Australia and Africa.

All of my kids were keen to research a few animals.  They each chose their own and spent time reading about these animals and writing what they learned on the blank research pages.

There are a few Fun Fact tracing pages that the younger kids in your family can use instead. 🙂

My two girls decided to do both. I let them choose what they wanted to do and just printed out those pages.  They really like doing the mini-research pages (as you can probably tell from our spring animals and life cycles packet and other things I’ve shared recently!)

Insects of the Amazon: The Amazon also has an enormous variety of insects. We went over a notebook page that has some basic information about the insects of the Amazon. My kids were fascinated by the 6 inch Titan Beetle and the spider that has a leg-span of 10 inches! Again, there are Montessori 3-part cards and an insect matching page as well as a several blank insect research pages.

Layers of the Rainforest – Emergent, Canopy, Understory and Forest Floor: We talked about the layers of the rainforest and the kids did a couple of different activities. They drew their own rainforest (with layers) and we read over some basic information about each layer.  They opted to glue the description in rather than writing their own. 🙂

As you can see from the picture above, we read a couple of books while they did this activity:

• The Great Kapok Tree (affiliate link) has gorgeous illustrations and is a story of the many animals that live in just one tree. They each convince a logger not to cut down the great tree. This books is wonderful for most any age.  I read it to the kids when they were in PreK and early elementary, but my older two enjoyed it even now. (And they’re in middle school now.)
• We also started Adventures in the Rainforest, Discovering Biodiversity. (affiliate link) This is about two kids who accompany their uncle to a field camp in the Amazon rainforest.  There the kids learn what scientists do as they study rainforest plants, aquatic systems, invertebrates, frogs and snakes, birds, and mammals. The kids learn about some of the methods used by scientists as they study each of these different areas.  This book will probably take you several days to read as well, but it covers some excellent information in a way that is accessible to kids. It is a longer books, so I would recommend it more for Grade 2 and up.
• We also read through In the Rainforest, (affiliate link) which I would recommend for K-Gr.3… though again, my older two listened in. 🙂
• The Umbrella  (affiliate link) by Jan Brett. When Carlos drops his umbrella to climb a tree for a better view of the animals, they all cram into the banana-leaf umbrella as it floats by–from the little tree frog to the baby tapir to the big jaguar and more. It gets so crowded in the umbrella that there isn’t even enough room for a little hummingbird! So over the umbrella tumbles, everyone falls out! This would be fun to use with her beautiful (free) printable rainforest masks.

Click here to save this for later on Pinterest:

Layers of the Rainforest activity pages: We talked about a few of the common plants and plant features: epiphytes, lianas and buttress roots.  Another activity has the kids identify some of the features of each layer and draw what each layer would look like. Younger kids can cut and paste the labels and picture provided (lower right).  Another activity had the kids cut out the different animals and place them in the rainforest layer where they would most likely be found.

Animal Cut-and-Paste Activity:  The kids really enjoyed trying to figure out which animals belonged in which layer. They debated the answers I gave (which is fine because animals actually move from one layer to another!!) 🙂

Average Rainfall in Temperate vs. Tropical Climates: One of the activities we did was to compare the average rainfalls in the Amazon rainforest to temperate climates (and various states around the U.S.). As you can tell from the picture below, the Amazon can get a LOT of rain!! 🙂

We talked about deforestation at the beginning of our unit, but talked about it again in more depth after spending some time comparing tropical rainforests to temperate forests.

During this unit, the girls worked together to create their own Amazon rainforest diorama.  They really enjoyed that! I had them google different rainforest dioramas, but they did all the work themselves. The only suggestion I made was to paint the top of the box green. 🙂

My girls grabbed a number of plastic animals we had on hand.  The Safari TOOB has assorted rainforest animals (affiliate link) if your kids do a project like this. (Again, it includes includes a red and blue macaw, red eye tree frog, poison dart frog, caiman, emerald tree boa, toco toucan, iguana, anteater, spider monkey, tapir, and a jaguar.)

We also watched a number of documentaries about the rainforest. My kids always really enjoy those! 🙂

So, that about wraps up our Amazon Rainforest Unit!! 🙂

Don’t forget that this is included in the Big Animal Bundle or Big Animal BUNDLE 2 (see details at this page or below.)

Our Amazon Rainforest Unit is 50+ pages.  It is $4.99.

As you have probably gathered, our rainforest packet does not include rainforest animals from other parts of the world. It focuses exclusively on the Amazon Rainforest.

$4.99

Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link.

If you have any questions feel free to email me.  ~Liesl

This packet is included in the Big Animal Bundle. See more details at this page: Big Animal BUNDLE or down below! The Big Animal BUNDLE includes 7 packets.   1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet – plus 6) the Cicadas Packet and 7) the Chameleon Packet.

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts.  Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. ~Liesl

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

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Big Animal Bundle

   $19.99 The Big Animal BUNDLE includes 8 packets.   1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet – plus 6) the Cicadas Packet 7) the Chameleon Packet and 8) Wolves Unit.

Big Animal BUNDLE 2

$29.99 Big Animal BUNDLE 2 This second animal bundle option includes the Mitten Activities Packet, Dinosaur Packet and the new Australia Packet! 1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet plus the 6) Cicada Packet 7) Chameleons Packet 8) Wolves Packet 9) Mitten Activity Packet 10) Dinosaur Unit and the 11) Australia Unit.

These units are all sold separately as well. See the Big Animal BUNDLE page for more details about each of these units.

Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link.  You can always email me if you need help! ~Liesl

The Animal Unit is 100+ pages. It covers basic animal classification, animal characteristics, body coverings: feathers, fur, scales or skin, vertebrate groups, invertebrate groups, domesticated vs. wild animals, animals and their tracks, nocturnal vs diurnal animals, animal homes and shelters and more!

The World Animal Packet is 75+ pages. It covers animals of the 7 continents.  There is a new section all about African animals of the savanna.

The Rainforest Packet is 75+ pages. Learn all about Tropical and Temperate Rainforests, where they are located, Amazon Rainforest Facts, rainfall in the Amazon, Animals & Insects of the Amazon, Layers of the Rainforest Activities and more.

The Life Cycles Packet is 50+ pages. It helps kids become familiar with the different stages in the life cycles of the chicken, sea turtle, frog, mosquito, butterfly, dragonfly, bee, mouse, and ladybug.

The Winter Packet and Hibernation Unit is 100+ Pages.  The first part covers Growing Crystals, Months/ Seasons, Earth’s Axis and the Seasons, Arctic vs. Antarctica, Polar Animals, Penguins, Seals, Whales, about a dozen PreK Activity Pages. The Hibernation Unit covers: why animals hibernate, terms such as torpor, brumation, estivation, diapause, endotherms vs. ectotherms.  Plus, it covers where animals spend the winter and the dangers of hibernation. It includes various activities such as notebook pages, interactive notebook/lapbook pieces, matching and tracing pages.

Cicadas Packet: This 20-page unit includes cicada worksheets, notebook pages and a lapbook so kids can learn more about this fascinating insect!

Chameleons Packet This 15-page mini-unit helps kids learn all about chameleons from where they live and what they eat to how big they are and why the change colors.

Wolves Packet (35+ pages) Learn all about wolves from where they live, why they howl, to how they raise their young.  This includes notebook pages with tracing or pages with questions to research/answer, interactive notebook pieces/lapbook and some fun activity pages.

Australia Unit (75-pages) This unit covers the geography and animals of Australia. (Included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2 only.)

Dinosaur Unit (100+ pages – Multi-Age Packet: 50 pages for ages 3-6; 60 pages for ages 7-9) (Included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2 only.)

Mitten Activities Packet (40 pages) This fun activity packet is loosely related to Jan Brett’s book, The Mitten. (Included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2 only.)

One Mum from the U.K. said, “We got the animal bundle a few weeks back. An AMAZING resource! Perfect for a combined geography project. Especially love how you can adapt these packs to suit your learning style!”

Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link!

  $5.99  Animal Unit (100+ pages) – This unit covers animal characteristics, Feather, fur or scales?,  animal classification (the animal kingdoms, vertebrates and invertebrate groups), insects vs. spiders, animal tracks, animals homes and shelters, nocturnal vs. diurnal animals and more! Quick Preview or More details here or view image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7, image 8, image 9, image 10, image 11

  $4.99  World Animals Unit (100+ pages) Animals of the 7 Continents: Montessori 3-part cards and Activity Pages, best for ages 3-7 or so. Also in the World Animals Unit is the mini-unit on Animals of the African Savanna  Quick Preview or view image 1, view image 2, view image 3 (African Animals)

$6.99 Australia Unit (75-pages) This unit covers the geography and animals of Australia.  Students will learn the location and basic facts about the states and territories of Australia. Then they will go on to learn more about Australia’s animals. They will learn about many of Australia’s marsupials and monotremes as well as other well-known birds and reptiles.  See more about this new unit at this post: Australia Packet Click on the link to see more pictures: Image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7, image 8, image 9, image 10, image 11 This unit is not included in the Big Animal BUNDLE. It is included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2.

$4.99 Amazon Rainforest Packet (50 pages) Quick Preview or visit the post or view image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5

$4.99  Life Cycles Packet (50 pages) Explore the life cycles of the chicken, sea turtle, frog, mosquito, butterfly, dragonfly, bee, ladybug, mouse Quick Preview or visit the post or view image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5 $4.99  Winter Unit – Earth’s Axis/Seasons; The Arctic vs. Antarctica; Polar Animals includes a Hibernation Unit (100+ pages)   Winter Packet and Hibernation Unit Quick Preview or view the post or view image 1, image 2 Arctic vs Antartica, image 3 polar animals, image 4 seals sea lions penguins, image 5 Hibernation Unit

$2.50 Cicadas Packet This 20-page unit includes cicada worksheets, notebook pages and a lapbook so kids can learn more about this fascinating insect! See more at this post.

2.50 Chameleons Packet This 15-page mini-unit helps kids learn all about chameleons from where they live and what they eat to how big they are and why the change colors.

$0.00 FREE Living Nonliving Cards and Worksheets (More info here)

FREE Living Nonliving Cards and Worksheets (More info here)

$6.99 Australia Unit (75-pages) This unit covers the geography and animals of Australia.  Students will learn the location and basic facts about the states and territories of Australia. Then they will go on to learn more about Australia’s animals. They will learn about many of Australia’s marsupials and monotremes as well as other well-known birds and reptiles.  See more about this new unit at this post: Australia Packet Click on the link to see more pictures: Image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7, image 8, image 9, image 10, image 11 This unit is not included in the Big Animal BUNDLE. It is included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2.

$4.99 Dinosaur Unit (100+ pages – Multi-Age Packet: 75 pages for ages 3-6; 80+ pages for ages 7-9) View Post or View Image 1 image 2, image 3, image 4 lapbook, image 4, image 5, image 6, image 7, image 8, image 9, image 10, image 11, image 12This unit is not included in the Big Animal BUNDLE. It is included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2.

 

$3.50 Mitten Activities Packet (40 pages) This activity packet is loosely related to Jan Brett’s book, The Mitten. View Post or View image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4 This unit is not included in the Big Animal BUNDLE. It is included in Big Animal BUNDLE 2.

$5.99 Five Senses Unit You can find out more about our NEW 100+ page Five Senses Packet. Details are here: View Post, image 1, image 2, image 3, image 4, image 5

Again, you will find more pictures of what is included in this Big Animal Bundle at this page.

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts.  You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group.  Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. Again, if you are interested in joining our Homeschool Den Newsletter, feel free to subscribe here.

The Welcome Series includes 5 packed emails… with tips on homeschooling, keeping motivated, finding various resources and freebies tucked away on the blog and more!

Plus, you’ll be the first to hear about new packets (generally offered at a discount when they are first released), seasonal resources and more!

Happy Homeschooling! ~Liesl