Calling all adventure seekers! Enter the rainforest and prepare for hands-on jungle activities for preschool that they will love for working on fine motor skills and creating a love of exploring. Swing from the vines as the jungle and learning come to life right in your very own classroom.
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Rainforest Lesson Plans
Rainforest Sensory Bin
Jungle Activities for Preschool
Do you know what takes this from an ordinary jungle sensory bin to an extraordinary one? Cardboard tubes. Yup. You heard me.
See, the cardboard tubes make hollow tree trunks, perfect for pouring the rice into and hiding little jungle animals.
So not only will your preschoolers get the satisfying sensation and plink of the rice, but they’ll be working on pouring and scooping with those cardboard tube tree trunks.
Brilliant for their rainforest fine motor skills and stories to come to life!
Materials:
- cardboard tubes
- rainforest tree printouts
- green rice
- rocks
- wooden leaves
- rainforest animals
- scoops
Jungle STEM
Rainforest Fine Motor Activity
What can I say? I love giving my kiddos various materials and seeing what their imaginations come up with. It is always, I repeat, always better than my predictable construction.
Provide your students with blocks and cups to form the foundation of their jungle landscape, offering opportunities for spatial reasoning and fine motor skill development.
To add a touch of nature, let them stack felt leaves, allowing the preschoolers to arrange and decorate their jungle scenes with vibrant foliage. Cups become tree trunks, standing tall amid the felt leaves.
This hands-on activity not only fosters imaginative play but also introduces foundational STEM concepts in a fun and interactive manner. Perfect for those ingenious imaginations!
Materials:
- wooden blocks
- brown cups
- felt leaves
- green popsicle sticks
Monkeys & Vines
Jungle Fine Motor Activities
How many monkeys can one rope swing hold? Well, my cousins and I were determined to find out!
At first, we would run and jump two at a time on the rope swing that swung out over the ravine on my grandparents’ farm in Michigan. But where’s the challenge in that?!? Before long, we had four monkeys swinging out over the ravine enveloped by a buggy forest.
Bring that record-setting fun to your classroom with this monkey math activity.
Make a stand out of PVC pipe or hang green linking chains on your chalkboard for the perfect vines. Then, count and swing those plastic monkeys as they make their way through the rainforest. Fine motor challenge accepted!
Materials:
- Monkey Math Cards
- PVC pipes or ledge to hook chains onto
- green linking chains
- Barrel of Monkeys
Pulling Piranha Teeth
Jungle Activities for Preschool
Anytime I see a piranha, I immediately think of the dentist scene in Finding Nemo. It’s such a cute, light-hearted scene where Darla is thrilled to discover her present will be a fish.
Just like her, your toddlers will be thrilled to see this Piranha Pull fine motor activity in your classroom!
The printable piranha has pattern block teeth that your tots can pull using tongs. A wonderful way to create a sustained play opportunity while practicing fine motor control.
Materials:
Barrel of Monkeys
Jungle Games for Fine Motor Skills
Classic games and toys always remind me of my childhood. Lincoln logs, Lite Brites, and Barrel of Monkeys were key players in our childhood fun, and it’s so exciting to see them back on the store shelves.
As an adult, I realize how wonderful each of those toys was for building fine motor skills and imagination.
Barrel of Monkeys is an excellent addition to your rainforest fine motor activities! Fine motor skills will be at work as your toddlers work to pick up as many monkeys as they can by linking those wonky arms together.
Materials:
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MORE Rainforest Activities for Preschoolers
A rainforest experience your toddlers won’t soon forget can be created with each of these jungle activities for preschool! You won’t regret creating a memorable learning experience with hands-on play that builds fine motor skills. And you won’t regret swinging through the week when you buy the rainforest bundle packed full of math centers, literacy centers, and lesson plans. Click the bundle below to see all of the rainforest activities in action!
