Remove the lid from the shoebox. Set the shoebox up horizontally on one of its long sides. Cut out the top -- the other long side -- of the box to give you better access to the project as you create it.
Paint or draw scenic life on the inside of the box. Draw a mural of trees and shrubs to support the visual image you will create as you continue to build. Paint a water fall in the background to display aquatic life that manifests in the rainforest.
Layer the floor of the shoebox model with patches of green, brown and blue felt as representations of grass, moss, soil and water that permeate the rainforest.
Build faux trees with cardboard, pipe cleaner, markers and paint. Realistically structure the vegetation in the rainforest with four types of plant life: emergents (the tallest trees), canopies (medium-sized trees), under canopy (interconnection of branches and elevated foliage) and the shrub layer (ground level foliage). Use lots of browns and dark and light greens to shade and color the forest.
Paint small hunks of Styrofoam in shades of grey and brown to resemble rocks or fallen trees. Glue them intermittently throughout the model.
Attach small figurines of creatures that inhabit the rainforest -- monkeys, snakes, parrots, frogs and jaguars, for example. Use the various layers of vegetation to include figurines -- glue monkeys on branches and snakes on the ground, for instance -- to boost the three-dimensional appeal of the ecosystem and rainforest life.