Read "The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest" by Lynne Cherry. Have kindergartners help create a floor to ceiling kapok tree out of butcher paper. Label the four layers of the rainforest the kapok tree grows through -- forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layer. Invite students to make paper models of favorite rainforest plants and animals they heard about during the rainforest study. Help students locate the correct layer of the rainforest to place the plants and animals on the kapok tree.
Write rainforest themed songs, poems and rhymes on large sheets of chart paper. Assign two or three kindergartners to each song or poem and allow them to decorate their pages. Pass out different rainforest-themed musical instruments such as rain sticks, pan pipes, drums, bongos or handheld monkey drums to each group. Have groups practice singing the songs or reading the poems. Invite groups to add music to their songs or poems. Encourage kindergartners to teach their rainforest songs to the class.
Read "Rainforest Colors" by Susan Canizares or other books featuring brightly colored rainforest plants and animals. Write cloze sentences such as "Red is for ______" and "Blue is for ________" on sentence strips. Continue with different colors. Invite kindergartners to help name a plant or animal for each sentence. For example student might say, "Yellow is for spotted jaguar." Encourage kindergartners to lead choral readings of the sentences and create artwork to match each sentence.
Read "Flashy, Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs" by Dorothy Patent. Talk about the brightly-colored frogs of the rainforest. Invite kindergartners to create their own rainforest frogs. Have students draw a frog outline or provide a photocopy of a blank frog. Students use oils, pastels or paints to design their frogs. Ask students if their frogs will have spots, stripes, big eyes or sticky feet. Cut out frogs and place them on a bulletin board display.