Create a large mural in the classroom with the different levels of the rainforest and the animals included in each layer. The bottom layer is the floor of the rainforest. Animals that live in this layer are insects, snakes and other reptiles and ground mammals, such as ocelots and gorillas. The second layer is the understory. It houses many of the same animals and insects as the forest floor. The third layer is the canopy. The canopy is home to creatures that live in trees, such as monkeys, toucans, macaws and other birds, some reptiles and large mammals that temporarily live in trees, such as large cats. The final layer of the forest is the emergent layer. This is home to many rainforest birds. Complete this project over a period of several days as the kids learn about the rainforest.
Place small animal figures found in the rainforest inside a large bag. Allow the children to pull an animal out of the bag one at a time. You can either have the child guess what the animal might be before he pulls it out of the bag, or you can simply reveal the animal right away and discuss that particular animal. After discussing the animal, add a picture or drawing of it to the large mural.
Allow the children to act like the rainforest animals as you learn about them. Give each child a small bean bag to carry on their backs as they pretend to be monkeys. Let the kids wriggle across the floor like a snake, or stick out their tongues like a lizard. The children can also hop like tree frogs or soar like eagles and other birds found in the rainforest. Add the correct sounds for each animal for the children to try to copy.
Have the children draw animal faces onto paper plates. Punch a hole in either side of the plate and string a piece of elastic across the back. Cut out two eye holes and allow the children to pretend to be the animals. Allow each child to make a rainforest book. Give each child a pre-made booklet with empty pages. As you learn about each animal, allow the children to glue pictures of that animal into the book and draw things that the animal eats or aspects of the particular rainforest layer in which the animal lives.