It was a jungle-riffic week here! I sort of blended jungle and rainforest, even though I realize that they're not exactly the same thing. This was a really fun theme, with lots of crafts to choose from and plenty of opportunities for learning! I hope you enjoy your own Jungle Theme Home Preschool Week.
If you regularly do preschool using weekly themes, be sure to check out Over 30 COMPLETE Weekly Preschool Theme Units that we've completed as well as my entire list of 52 Weekly Preschool Themes. You may also want to check out of Daily Home Preschool Schedule and this handy FREE Printable Preschool Planning Page.
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Rain Sticks
To make these rain sticks, we took a Pringles tube and hammered nails into the side. My husband was very unhappy (NOT!) about being given the assignment of eating the Pringles. I got the nails started and then Lena carefully hammered in the rest of the way.*
Then I filled the inside with some expired steel cut oats and duct-taped it shut tight all the way around. Lena made a "jungle drawing" that we then taped to the outside.
These were supposed to be rain sticks, but really they were just shakers. Lena and I made one with nails in it, and then I made another for Maggie without nails, and I honestly can't tell any difference in the way they sound. The hammering practice was good for Lena, though. I encouraged Lena to decorate her rain stick in a jungley way, but this is what she chose to do.
*I felt comfortable letting my 4-year-old use a hammer. As always, use your best judgement as to what your child can do safely.
Jungle Snack Mix
This little snack mix contains jungle animal crackers, green (and red, and blue) jungle vines, yogurt covered raisins (jungle rocks?), dried mango, and pretzels (jungle sticks). We had to stretch our imaginations a little bit here, but the girls always love a good snack mix and they usually buy in to whatever theme I'm trying to put together.
Lion Masks
I just loved this craft! The directions for this lion mask tutorial are on iMake. I found it difficult to help both of my girls at one time during this craft. If you have more than one child, you may need to pre-cut and even pre-curl all of your strips of paper.
Picture Books
Read all about the jungle picture books that we enjoyed this week. I especially loved Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae. The girls learned to recite a couple of the little poems.
Jungle Vine Gross Motor Activity
Pull some chairs together and thread green crepe paper or yarn through to make some jungle vines for your little ones to crawl through. This was great practice for crawling, climbing, scurrying, and shimmying.
This set up also encouraged tons of great imaginative play. In the photo above, Lena had asked me to make her some 'snakes' that she spread along the jungle floor.
The girls also pulled out their safari hats and binoculars, along with their lion masks. They went searching through the jungle for wild animals.
After the jungle vines had gotten all stretched out and droopy (and it was time for dinner, so we needed our chairs back), Lena built an ax and chopped all the vines down.
All in all, this was our favorite activity of the week. It took less than 5 minutes to set up, and cost about $1 for the roll of crepe paper. The girls played with the set up for several hours!
Pattern Snakes
A classic preschool and early elementary craft is to make pattern snakes, and have children build shape or color patterns along a snake body.
My girls were less interested in patterns and more interested in just decorating. So that's what we did.
When they were finished, Lena said very wistfully and longingly, "I wish we could add glitter." We added glitter! And then we were cleaning it up all. week. long.
Jungle Stamping Set
Rubber stamps are so much fun for young children! This set from Melissa and Doug has all kinds of rainforest and jungle animals. Have your children make a scene and then color it in. This activity always keeps my kiddos occupied for a solid 20 minutes (which is a LONG time for me to be able to get a couple of things done).
Jungle Puzzles
Melissa and Doug strikes again! This is one of my girls' favorite puzzles (technically an African Plains puzzle, but features several jungle animals.
Jungle Music
I looked on YouTube for jungle or rainforest music and found this awesome piece that is 11 hours of rainforest sounds! I played it while we did some of our jungle activities, especially as the girls played in their crepe paper jungle (see above).
We also made music with our rain sticks and some drums.
The Jungle Book
Your kids can watch Disney's The Jungle Book this week! I tried to get it from the library, but there was another mom there who grabbed it off the rack as I was searching for it. So we settled for The Jungle Book 2 instead.
I also showed part of the BBC/ The Discovery Channel's Planet Earth series. There is one episode about the jungle. This type of nature documentary movie can really hold your child's attention. This is one of our favorite movies, and I often show parts of it to the girls. (Warning! The jungle episode features frogs mating, and some animals dying. Use your judgement as to what is appropriate for your child.)
Snake Pasta Threading
Take some colored pasta (or plain pasta) and thread it to make snakes. This is excellent fine motor practice! We glued googly eyes on ours, and then the girls slithered them around the room.
Want some more ideas for your own jungle or rainforest theme? Be sure to follow Cutting Tiny Bites on Pinterest and check out the Jungle Theme board!
You May Also Be Interested In
Great Chapter Books for Preschoolers
Jungle Slime Recipe from Buggy And Buddy
Rainforest Yoga from Kids Yoga Stories
Rainforest Small World Play from Crayon Box Chronicles
From Other Great Bloggers
Jungle Scenery For Sensory Play from Life Over C'sJungle Slime Recipe from Buggy And Buddy
Rainforest Yoga from Kids Yoga Stories
Rainforest Small World Play from Crayon Box Chronicles
