Orchids grow on tree trunks in the understory.  They grow in a variety of patterns, colors and sizes.  Orchids grow well in the Amazon rainforest because of the warm humid climate.  The kids were encouraged to create their own orchid using, a soufflé cup, tissue paper, and pipe cleaner.   I happened to have a blooming orchid in the house for the kids to see in real life to help them use their imaginations to create their own. We were so busy creating I did not take many pictures but the results were fantastic!

Monkeys play and chatter in the understory layer.  Some monkeys, like the howler monkey, have tails that can grip branches.  These types of tails are called prehensile tails.  They each created their own monkey mask and pretended to be monkeys!  
I set up two chairs and taped a string, they each took turns exploring different ways to  hang the monkeys!  
They colored the letter M and created a mountain with snow caps and cotton balls for the clouds.
In our fine motor journals they traced M and made mountain tops.  

Mushrooms are fungi that easily grow on the forest floor because they don't need sunlight.  Some mushrooms are safe to eat, but others are poisonous.  There are over a million different types of mushrooms. They grown in many different sizes and are found in dark, damp places. For our make and play art we cut straws and and decorated mushroom caps.  We played Mushroom Math, taking turns drawing a card and then planting the mushrooms.  You can also put all mushrooms in the ground, pick a number and take out that many mushrooms until none are left.  

We have been doing a lot of counting.  I am asked daily, "What is 7+9, what is 18+18...." Today the kids chose the two numbers they wanted to add, we used lids to count!  We made two separate piles and then counted to add them together.  We counted by 5's and I also showed them what it looks like in a 10 frame.  

For fine motor we drew the letter J and then made it into a Jaguar!  We drew wavy lines or mountains, they chose the type of the line to draw. We used alphabet stickers in our journals and we traced hexagons.

We also built letter Jj, the younger kids practiced cutting while the older kids cut out their puzzle pieces.  

​We used ink pads and finger to make ants! 

Leafcutter ants live on the forest floor.  They re small but can carry a heavy load on their backs.  These ants mostly carry leaves on their backs to take back to the nest.  Each child used an egg carton, wiggle eyes, pipe cleaner and paint to create their own leaf cutter ant.  
We used blocks and black beans (ants) to build tunnels and nests!
For fine motor practice we drew lines in our journals and cut and pasted paper. 

Lily pads live and grow in the Amazon River.  The Giant Amazon Water Lily is the largest of all the lily pads and can grow up to 9 feet in diameter.  This plant is very strong and floats on top of the water.  On some lily pads, a lotus flower is attached to the pad.  
We did an experiment floating plates (lily pads) and guessed how many blocks it would take to sink the lily pad.  We found several items and guessed as to whether they would sink or float! 
The kids created their own lily pads.  We talked about the inspiration photos and some of the details they noticed. 

Due to the lack of light, there are not very many plants that grow on the forest floor.   Some things that grown on the forest floor are ginger, moss and ferns.  They are all living things that need water, soil and sunlight.  Their roots grow in the dirt and gather nutrients to help them live.  
Today created a sprout experiment!  We cut the off the bottom of a sweet potato, placed toothpicks in the potato and placed potato in a cup with water.  They reached observed the sweet potato and we drew our observations for week one!  We discussed what may happen over the next few weeks.  
I created the forest floor using beans, paper leafs and mini rainforest animals.  We discussed there are many treasures hiding on the rainforest floor.  The kids took turns searching for a hidden treasure, a jewell.  We colored the letter J coloring page and each child chose where they wanted to place their jewell.  Some kids hid the jewell under leafs others chose to just place the jewell on their page and not hide! 
​For fine motore we traced our names and glued the letter Jj in our fine motor journals. 
We read two books about the rainforest today, If I ran the Rainforest by Dr. Suess and The Umbrella by Jan Brett.  
​We are so excited for our adventure through the rainforest!  

Jaguars live in the forest floor layer.  They have spots on their fur and good at hiding.  Jaguars are fast and can leap from tree to tree.  Jaguars use their whiskers to balance.  We tried balancing on one foot today! Unfortunately, they are an endangered species.  Today we made a J is for Jaguar. We used wiggle eyes, twist ties, markers and glue.  They took turns looking at the pictures of the jaguar and we talked about some of its features, spots, whiskers and eyes!   
For fine motor we practiced making hooks, for the hook on the letter Jj.  
We read If I ran the Rain Forest by Dr. Suess. 

Get ready for an adventure.  Your child will play and learn in a rainforest filled with chattering monkeys and jumping frogs.  We will learn letters Jj, Dd and Mm and numbers 5 and 7.  The first week is all about the Forest Floor Layer.  

That is a wrap for the Valentine fun we had the last few days!  Hope everyone has a sweet, loved filled day! 

We traced hearts and drew hearts in our fine motor journals!  We used Q-tips to build letters with paint and we painted with gorgeous valentine colors.