Follow Us Into the Rainforest

When my lovely follower won my Facebook giveaway, she had suggested a tropical beach or rainforest sensory bin, in keeping with her Brazilian heritage. Even though I was slightly overwhelmed at the thought of bringing the rainforest down to a two year old’s level, I knew we had done the beach before. Besides, where was I going to get a sensory bin sized replica of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro?

Supplies Needed

• Small World Rainforest – fake (or real) moss, grass, trees, blue beads, assorted plastic animals from the rainforest
• Sensory Bag – uncooked black beans, cardstock paper, ziploc bags, masking tape
• Tropical Necklaces – straws, scissors, twine
• Feather the Toucan/Macaw – contact paper, feathers, painters tape
• Sorting Frogs – cardstock paper
• Rainstick – Used and empty water bottle with cap, tin foil, rice or lentils, masking tape

The Plan

Reading: ABC Rainforest

This book is released by the American Museum of Natural History. I love this title because it uses vibrant actual photos of the animals. For a board book it is actually quite large in size, which makes it all the more fun for little hands.

Focus Words: Rainforest, Amazon, Brazil

Small World Bin: This small world bin looks like one of the most complicated ones that I designed, however, I must confess it is probably the cheapest and easiest. The moss, grass, trees, and blue beads that make up the river were picked up at the Dollar Store. The large alligator was found at the Dollar Store, as well. The smaller animals were bought from a wholesaler on Ali Express. That’s it!

Which brings me to some play knowledge that I just discovered. I have been using “small world” and “sensory bin” interchangeably, but I can understand this can get confusing. I did a little research and found an article that Little Bins for Little Hands had done on the subject. In it, she states: “

Sensory bins are for experiencing materials through the nervous system. Running your hands through them, sifting them, feeling them, squishing them and more. There is no set theme other than to explore the filler itself. There is no preconceived theme for the child to participate in too. I would say the line starts to blur the more you try to give it a play theme that is specific, contains many additional elements and is expected to use lots of pretend play. I don’t think throwing a bucket, shovel and some trucks makes it a small world or even hiding little items to find. The intent to use the sensory filler as it is still readily available to the child.”

I think it will be useful to adopt this definition in my posts. Thus, this our rainforest small world bin!

Fine Motor: Butterfly Bag

@manywaystoplay announced that this week’s prompt was “bags”. Initially, I thought about the mountain of plastic bags my husband likes to collect (yes, we need to switch to reusable…it’s on my list). We reuse them for a lot of things, namely the quarantining of really really really bad diapers. That being said, I couldn’t figure out what to do that would tie the rainforest and bags together, unless we were going to talk about deforestation and man’s effect on the environment. It just seemed a little…advanced for my not quite two year old. ⠀
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I digress. I decided I was over-complicating the issue. I printed out some beautiful pictures of tropical butterflies and cut them out in cardstock. I filled a gallon Ziploc bag with black beans (the same beans from our “Easter” and “Bugs” lesson), and threw the butterflies in. I reinforced the zipper and the three seams with masking tape and dug her pocket microscope out. At this age, it’s just a glorified magnifying glass. I laid it flat on the carpet and asked her to find the butterflies and study them. She made quick work, shuffling the beans around with her fingers, attempting to see all nine butterflies at the same time. Definitely killed fifteen minutes that way. Then we placed it on the dining table and I started picking out different colored butterflies. I just can’t quit the rainbow lesson can I? ⠀
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The beauty of this exploration is that it is completely mess-free. Since the bag is sealed, she has to use her fine motor skills and use her chubby little fingers to move the beans in such a way to see her butterflies. We’re also weaving the rainforest into our discussion.

Fine Motor: Tropical Necklaces

I repurposed the straws from a previous activity during “Rainbow Week” and turned them into beads! I cut 1.5 to 2 inch sections. Then I grabbed some twine and tied one end to the Flisat table leg. That way she would only have to worry about holding one end while she strung her beads. ⠀
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It just so happens that all my straws/beads are in very festive colors, that actually remind me of Brazilian Carnival. So voila! This also ties in with my Brazil theme! Carnival necklaces! I’ve always wanted to go, but Brazilian Carnival is traditionally right before Catholic Lent, so we’ve already missed it. Maybe next year? Raise your hand if you want to come with me!

Art: Feather the Tropical Birds

The last time I did an activity using contact paper as our canvas during Caterpillars and Butterflies, Vicky thoroughly enjoyed it. I had used bits of construction paper for the “stained glass” effect. This time, I decided to use some Dollar Store neon feathers. We were going to feather our toucan and macaw, both birds indigenous to the rainforest.

I love setting these activities up right after breakfast. Whereas the first time I mounted the contact paper directly to the back of our front door, this time I made the activity portable. I mounted the contact paper using painter’s tape to an unused priority mail box. It worked perfectly! We were able to move it around and she could work on it from the luxury of her little toddler couch.

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This activity is definitely worth a repeat. The contact paper is great for these fine motor art projects.

Math Skills: Sorting Frogs

Let me preface this, I do NOT like frogs. However, when you ask your child to sort objects in order of big and small, you are laying the foundation of basic mathematical concepts. I know it seems crazy, but this picture is a math lesson in progress. I found these lovely printables and printed them on cardstock. I put them on the side table yesterday morning and after our morning meal I asked her to hand me a big one, then a small one. This she easily understood, but when we started trying to line them up by size, she got a bit stuck. Completely understandable. Comparing sizes is an advanced skill. Then it turned into a stretch of imaginative play, with her lining up her frog family on the front windowsill. It’s her favorite spot and she loves to line up her toys there. It’s quite adorable.

She insists on carrying one around most of the day, so I think I’ll be surrounded by tree frogs for a little while longer. Yay?

Music: Rainstick

This project took the longest to plan but was very quick to assemble. I originally wanted to find a mailing tube and hammer some nails in, per the popular method on Pinterest. However, I didn’t like the idea of destroying a perfectly good mailing tube or wasting nails. Plus, I didn’t think the nails would delay the rice falling long enough to create the wanted sound.

I marinated on this all weekend until I stumbled upon another idea on an obscure music blog from 2011. All it required was a water bottle, tin foil, and whatever base you wanted to use. Since I was packing away the rainbow rice, I decided to just scoop a cup of it into a used water bottle. Then, you fold over a few pieces of tinfoil and put them inside, making sure to open the pieces a little bit once they’re inside, if you can. Put the cap back on the bottle and make sure it makes the sound you had in mind. After that, I put some masking tape around the top to seal it. Voila! DIY Rainstick!

If your little one gets bored of that, grab a stick and turn the rainstick into the Brazilian “reco-reco”. This was a traditional instrument played with a wooden stick on a piece of notched cylindrical bamboo. It can be heard in a lot of traditional samba. Try it out!

Misc: Coffee talk

I decided to work our rainforest study into our practical life activities. Whenever we are cooking, Vicky really enjoys coming into the kitchen, getting up on her step stool and “cooking” as well. Sometimes I give her real ingredients, trying to be true to Montessori form as possible, but sometimes time is of the essence. She loves to grab our K-Cups and a plastic bowl and pretend to shake different “ingredients” into the bowl, mixing it up, occasionally offering us tastes. It’s adorable to watch.

Today, while making sandwiches, I started talking to her about how coffee is found in the rainforest. Now, we all know that this is a wayyyyy advanced concept beyond her years, but it is so important that you talk all the time to your toddler. You never know what they’re picking up. I launched into a whole schpeel about how Brazil is responsible for 1/3 of the coffee production in the entire world. Coffee isn’t native to Brazil. Legend says the first coffee plant was plated by a man who seduced the French Guiana’s wife, in order to acquire seeds that the French Guiana governor had refused him. Apparently she secretly gave him a bouquet spiked with seeds! That’s quite an unsavory story, so I glossed over that part.

My husband wants to start giving her sips of coffee as she gets older, so she gets used to the bitterness. I don’t know how I feel about that. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll make some decaf and see what she thinks. I am not overjoyed at the thought of a Vicky that is even mildly caffeinated.

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Did you try any of these ideas? Comment below and let me know how it went!