When planning rainforest map activities, decide what the students need to learn and how their learning will be assessed. For example, the students can take a rainforest map home to do as homework or assessment can be more formal in the form of a map test. To go basic, assess based on participation in the activity. Use the same maps throughout and be consistent no matter what assessment is used.
Select activities appropriate for the students' abilities and ages. Students who are more advanced can work with more complicated or different types of maps such as topographical or three-dimensional maps. Less-advanced students can get a map with a word bank or identify fewer objects. Connect the map activities to critical thinking skills by asking students if they think rainforests were bigger 200 years ago.
Keep lessons interactive and engaging. Use technology if appropriate. Students can cobble together a rainforest map on a SMART Board or computer. Younger students may enjoy cutting out and gluing items on paper maps. Think big and develop a floor rainforest map or a wall rainforest map with the class. Also, play games as part of the lesson. For example, divide the class in two teams and have each identify places on the map to make the lesson interactive and entertaining.
Connect map activities to other subjects. For example, introduce math concepts by asking students to use map scales to determine rainforest length and width or the distance from one rainforest to another. Introduce English skills by asking students to choose one rainforest or one rainforest animal and write a paper on it. Have students prepare a project on various medications humans have found in rainforests as part of a history lesson.