The Rainforest Topic - The Complete Topic (17 lessons)

#TheCompleteTopic17lessons

Packed full of engaging Rainforest topic ideas, this lesson planning pack contains 17 lessons across several curriculum subjects, including Geography, Science, Art, Computing and DT. Each of these lessons comes with a detailed and easy-to-follow lesson plan, a slideshow presentation for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable worksheets and other resources, such as picture cards, challenges, information sheets and much more. Plenty for your term or half term of rainforest teaching!

#AllARTLessonsinTopic

This Rainforest Art KS2 planning pack provides three fantastic rainforest Art projects for your Year 3 or Year 4 children! Completely planned and ready to deliver to your class, these Rainforest Art lessons provide everything you need, including easy-to-follow lesson plans with differentiated activity ideas, slideshows for each of the teaching inputs and a range of printable resources to support children as they create their own Rainforest masterpieces!

These lessons will give your class the chance to learn how to draw rainforest animals, explore Henri Rousseau's rainforest paintings and create their own rainforest animal masks, and are the perfect way to embed Art teaching into your rainforest topic.

#AllCOMPUTINGLessonsinTopic

Download these two fun Computing lessons for KS2 to use as part of your cross-curricular Rainforest Topic. Your Year 3 or Year 4 class will learn how to use the internet to find information about rainforests, and how to check if that information is correct, as well as use a word-processing programme to create a rainforest glossary.

Both of these lessons come fully planned and ready to teach with a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources to support your class as they carry out their activities. All you need to do is download, teach and enjoy!

#AllDTLessonsinTopic

Download these DT Rainforest lessons to give your Year 3 or Year 4 children two fun Design & Technology projects to undertake as part of their Rainforest cross-curricular topic. Your class are challenged firstly to use fabric to create colourful poison dart frog bean bags, then to create an information poster about the rainforest that includes moving parts.

Both of the DT Rainforest planning packs come with everything you need to deliver the lessons (apart from physical materials!) including lesson plans with three-way differentiation, slideshows for the teaching input (both with a set of photos to model the methods and processes) and a range of printable resources to support children as they design, make and evaluate their DT rainforest projects.

#AllGEOGRAPHYLessonsinTopic

Take a trek into the depths of the jungle with these Rainforest KS2 Geography lessons as your Year 3 or Year 4 children explore the geography of the rainforests. Your class will explore where rainforests are located in the world, what the different layers of the rainforest are like, who lives in rainforests and much more, all through a variety of engaging resources and activities that are prepped and ready to turn your class into rainforest geography experts!

This Rainforest KS2 Geography planning pack comes fully prepared with everything you need to deliver the lessons, including detailed lesson plans, presentations for each lesson, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable worksheets and resources. With everything ready to download and teach, you can just sit back and enjoy watching your class get immersed in their Rainforest topic!

#AllSCIENCELessonsinTopic

This Rainforest Science KS2 planning pack contains five Rainforest Science lessons that will help immerse your Year 3 or Year 4 class in their rainforest topic! Your children will have the chance to identify, explore and classify rainforest plants and animals, before constructing rainforest food chains.

Each of these Rainforest Science KS2 lessons comes completely planned and ready to teach – there's a clear, detailed lesson plan for each lesson, a slideshow presentation packed full of information, facts and questions, and a range of printable resources to help support your children as they find out about the organisms of the rainforest.

#Lesson1ArtDrawingRainforestAnimals

Teach your Year 3 or Year 4 children to draw rainforest animals with this fun KS2 Art lesson for your Rainforest Topic. The lesson starts by questioning your class on how they would go about drawing a variety of rainforest animals, before showing them some easy step-by-step instructions to follow to draw monkeys, gorillas, toucans, sloths, frogs and jaguars. It also provides some opportunities to draw other animals from observation.

This 'Draw Rainforest Animals' lesson pack is completely ready to teach and comes with an easy-to-follow lesson plan, a set of slides for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources, including step-by-step instructions for drawing rainforest animals.

#Lesson2ArtHenriRousseau

This Henri Rousseau Rainforest Art lesson for KS2 children introduces your Year 3/4 children to the artwork of Henri Rousseau. They will explore some of his most famous works portraying rainforests, and explore his style and the features of his paintings before creating their own Rousseau-inspired rainforest scene. They will also find out how to create various shades of green to use in their art.

This Henri Rousseau Rainforest Art lesson comes fully planned and ready to teach – there is an easy-to-follow lesson plan with differentiated activities, a slideshow for the teaching input and a set of printable picture sheets with examples of Rousseau's rainforest scenes to support your children as they create their own artwork in the style of Henri Rousseau.

#Lesson3ArtAnimalMasks

This fun Art lesson for KS2 provides your Year 3/4 children with basic rainforest animal masks to make for themselves, and offers tons of creative suggestions for how they can turn the basic mask template into realistic, colourful or zany rainforest animals! The included slideshow for the teaching input demonstrates some of the ways in which they could create their animal masks, including papier mache, collage, paint, coloured card and sketching, before your class are free to let their creativity run wild!

This Rainforest Animal Masks lesson comes fully planned and ready to teach, leaving you free to enjoy watching as your children turn into a rainforest animals!

#Lesson4ComputingRainforestFacts

This Rainforest Facts Computing lesson for KS2 children challenges your Year 3 or Year 4 class to find out whether given statements about the rainforest are true or false. The teaching input looks at how to use appropriate search terms and the importance of verifying information on the internet, before your class are challenged find and verify some rainforest facts for themselves.

This Rainforest Facts lesson planning pack comes completely ready to teach with an easy-to-follow lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support your children as they research their rainforest facts.

#Lesson5ComputingRainforestWords

This Rainforest Computing lesson challenges your class to find rainforest words for each letter of the alphabet and use them to create their own rainforest glossary using tables in a word processing document. They will also be able to apply their knowledge of changing texts, adding borders and inserting images.

This Rainforest Words lesson comes fully prepared and ready to teach with a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activity ideas, a slideshow for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources to support your children as they turn their collection of rainforest words into their own rainforest glossaries.

#Lesson6DTPoisonDartFrogBeanbags

Challenge your KS2 class to work with fabric to create their own colourful poison dart frog bean bags! The included slideshow for the teaching input starts by looking at some photos of poison dart frogs, then goes on to show some step-by-step pictures for how children can work with felt to create their own colourful bean bag.

As well as the slideshow and detailed lesson plan, there are also a set of printable resources, including a template, to support your children as they design, make and evaluate their poison dart frog bean bags. Everything has been planned and prepared for you so you can just download, teach and enjoy!

#Lesson7DTMovingInformationBooks

This Rainforest Moving Information Books lesson starts by teaching your class to create some different moving mechanisms, such as sliders, pop-out objects, windows and rotating wheels, before challenging them to think about how they could incorporate these into an information book about the rainforest with moving parts. They will then work individually or in groups to design, make and evaluate their own moving information books.

This fun, creative lesson contains a lesson plan with three-way differentiation, a slideshow for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources to support your KS2 class as they design, making and evaluate their information books with moving mechanisms.

#Lesson8GeographyRainforestLocations

This Rainforest Locations lesson for KS2 children starts by asking your class what they already know about rainforests and what they think they are like, before locating tropical rainforests on a world map. They will also learn the names of the different continents and use a map to identify continents and countries which have rainforests in them.

Teaching your class about rainforest locations has never been easier – this planning pack comes completely ready to teach, including detailed a lesson plan, a slideshow presentation for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support your class as they locate tropical rainforests for themselves.

#Lesson9GeographyLayersoftheRainforest

This Layers of the Rainforest KS2 Geography lesson starts by explaining that the hot and humid climate of the rainforest makes it perfect for plant growth. It then goes on to explore the four layers of the rainforest (the emergent layer, canopy, under storey and the forest floor) and looks and the kinds of plants and animals that can be found at each layer.

Providing everything you need to teach this fascinating lesson, this Layers of the Rainforest KS2 planning pack includes an easy-to-follow lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources, including worksheets, picture cards and challenges, to support your class as they find out about the layers of the rainforest.

#Lesson10GeographyRainforestClimate

In this Rainforest Climate lesson for KS2 children, your Year 3 or Year 4 class will define the word 'climate' before going on to examine the climate of a tropical rainforest through the use of graphs and charts. They will also find out about the unique role the rainforests play in the water cycle and about convectional rainfall in rainforest environments.

Packed full of great learning, this Rainforest Climate lesson is completely planned and ready to deliver to your class. It comes with a lesson plan that has three differentiated activities, plus an alternative activity idea, a slideshow presentation for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources, including graphs and charts for the children to analyse.

#Lesson11GeographyRainforestTribes

Download this Rainforest Tribes KS2 Geography lesson to give your Year 3 or Year 4 class an eye-opening look at some of the indigenous tribes that live in the rainforests, particularly the Yanomami tribe. The included slideshow presentation takes a look at the way of life of rainforest tribes, exploring where they live, what they eat, what they wear, and much more.

During their independent activities, your class can then use what they have learnt about the Yanomami tribe to compare the lifestyle of rainforest tribes to modern western living.

This Rainforest Tribes lesson comes fully planned and ready to teach – a detailed lesson plan, slideshow presentation and a range of printable resources.

#Lesson12GeographyRainforestDeforestation

This Rainforest Deforestation KS2 Geography lesson looks at the threats that the rainforests are facing and some of the reasons behind rainforest deforestation, as well as the effects this has on the animals, plants and people who live in the rainforests...and beyond. It then challenges your class to think about steps they can take to help save the rainforests from disastrous destruction.

This Rainforest Deforestation KS2 planning pack comes fully prepared and ready to teach, including a lesson plan with differentiated activity ideas, a slideshow for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources to help your class express what they have learnt about rainforest deforestation in a number of ways.

#Lesson13ScienceRainforestPlantParts

This lesson starts by looking at the basic parts of a plant (leaves, stem, roots and flower) and their functions, before identifying these different parts on a variety of different rainforest plants from kapok trees to giant water lilies.

#Lesson14ScienceIdentifyingRainforestPlants

This Identifying Rainforest Plants KS2 Science lesson starts by showing your class some of the different plants that are found in the rainforest, and asking them to identify their parts and describe their features. They can then identify a variety of rainforest plants through differentiated activities, including matching riddles to pictures and using branching databases.

Providing everything you need to teach this lesson, this Identifying Rainforest Plants KS2 planning pack has a clear, detailed lesson plan, a slideshow presentation for the teaching input, and a range of helpful printable resources to help your class learn about rainforest plants.

#Lesson15ScienceIdentifyingRainforestAnimals

In this Identifying Rainforest Animals KS2 Science lesson, your class will take a trip to the Amazon as they find out about a range of rainforest animals. After recapping where the Amazon rainforest is on a map, this lesson then goes on to look at some of the animals found in the Amazon and challenges your class identify what type of animal each is and describe each one. It then demonstrates how to use a branching database to identify unfamiliar animals.

Ready to download and deliver to your class, this Identifying Rainforest Animals KS2 planning pack has everything you need to engage your class in learning about the animals of the Amazon.

#Lesson16ScienceClassifyingAmazonAnimals

Now that your class can identify some animals of the Amazon rainforest, they will be challenged to organise these animals into groups in this Classifying Amazon Animals lesson for KS2. Your class will explore the differences between mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish and insects, before thinking of other ways they could classify animals according to various criteria.

With a lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas, and a host of helpful printable resources, this lesson contains everything you need to get your Year 3 or Year 4 children classifying rainforest animals with ease.

#Lesson17ScienceFoodChains

This Rainforest Food Chain KS2 Science lesson teaches your class what a food chain is and defines the terms carnivore, herbivore, omnivore and producer, before showing them some examples of rainforest food chains to describe. It then challenges your children to create their own food chains to show feeding relationships in the rainforest.

Containing everything you need to deliver this lesson, this Rainforest Food Chain KS2 planning pack has a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas, and a range of printable resources to support your Year 3 or Year 4 class as they create their own rainforest food chains.

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Curriculum Objectives covered

• KS2 - to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing with a range of materials
• KS2 - to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including painting with a range of materials
• KS2 - to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including sculpture with a range of materials
• KS2 - about great artists in history

• KS2 - use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
• KS2 - select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information

• KS2 - use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
• KS2 - generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design
• KS2 - select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
• KS2 - select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities
• KS2 - evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
• KS2 - understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages]

• KS2 - locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
• KS2 - identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
• KS2 - describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
• KS2 - describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
• KS2 - use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied

• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions

• identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment

• construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey