School-Age: Rainforests

I went on vacation last week so I gave my library assistant free rein to do as she'd like for the school-age programs last week. She did a program about the juvenile nonfiction book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud. It's a great book if you haven't read it and her program went splendidly. 

Now that I am back in town, we are learning about the rainforest this week! 

1. Reading:
We read the board book "ABC Rainforest" by the American Museum of Natural History. 

It was a great book to share at a program for school-age kids with beautiful pictures and lots of interesting facts about rainforests and the animals and creatures that live there.

2. Discussion and Activity

I showed the kids a picture of the different layers of the rainforest. I described each layer and talked about what plants and animals they might find in each layer. 

Then we played an activity. I chose about 8 different animals and insects from the "ABC Rainforest" book and we played a game to see if the kids could guess what part of the rainforest each creature lived it. I had them work in small groups of 2-4 kids each. I gave them a picture of the rainforest layers and cut-out pictures of each creature. They put the animal/insect on the part of the rainforest they thought it belonged. Then I revealed whether they were right. The kids LOVED it. The small groups cheered when they were right and everyone was so excited about each upcoming animal.

3. Craft

Since one of the animals in the book was an Emerald Tree Boa, we made our own to take home. I found a version that made a springy mobile from DLTK's Crafts for Kids.

Notes:

We had a lot of fun this week and more manageable crowds. Or at least it felt that way so maybe it's just that I'm getting the hang of this school-age program thing :).