Non-fiction activities can include compiling fact sheets about monkeys and bananas. For example, details for monkeys can include physiology, habitat, diet and world distribution. Banana facts can include botany, agricultural practices, countries that supply the world, and the process from plantation to market. Students can bring these fact sheets home to read to their parents.
Students can solve a word search that includes some of the 264 monkey species, and varieties of bananas. For example, the list can include capuchin for monkey and "Cavendish" for banana. A world map can indicate "home countries" of the monkey and banana.
Students can learn about famous monkeys and bananas in children's literature, industry and show business. For example, Sam, a rhesus macaque, flew for NASA in 1959 and lived until 1982. (See Reference 1) The Australian children's show "Bananas in Pyjamas" premiered in the 1990s.
Monkey and banana themes can include lessons on the environment. For example, a documentary can feature snow monkeys and their hierarchy in their northern habitat in Japan. (See Reference 3) While watching a show on agriculture in the tropics, students can list details about the soil, temperature, water and nutrients that make bananas thrive.
Students can create sock or finger puppets to resemble monkeys and their bananas. Recycled buttons for eyes or fabric pieces for clothes can help give each monkey personality. Students can name their monkeys to announce during a parade around the classroom. A corner of the classroom can showcase a mural depicting a landscape filled with banana groves or plantations.