KS2 Rainforest Activities

KS2 Rainforest Activities

Rainforest plants activity This activity should be completed at Marwell Zoo’s Tropical World.

The aim of this activity is to encourage the children to look out for and identify

the different plants that grow in the rainforest, and then recognise the variety

of different products that can be made from them. The children can find the

answers to the questions on information boards throughout Tropical World

and the rest can be answered through observation or own experience. An

answer sheet has been provided for you to prompt and guide the children.

Rainforest animals activity On your walk around the zoo looking for rainforest animals, the pupils can

think about which layer of the rainforest the animals would be best at living in.

They draw, or write the names of, the rainforest animals next to the layer of

the rainforest where they think they might live. One example has been done

as a guide.

Marwell map of rainforest animals

The last page helps you find the rainforest species in Marwell Zoo.

Curriculum Links

SCIENCE

Year 4 Living things and their habitats recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose

dangers to living things

Year 6 Evolution and inheritance

identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in

different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution

GEOGRAPHY

Human and physical geography

Rainforest Plants

On your journey around Tropical World look out for the plants below and use the

information on the signs to create a fact file for each. One example has been done

for you.

Paw-paw grows on the ............................. tree.

It comes from: ...............................

It can be used for ...............................................

...................................................

..................................................

Name of plant: .............................

It comes from:

........................................................

Pure vanilla extract is expensive

because........................................

Ginger

It comes from: ..................................................

It can be used for..............................................

.............................................................................

Name of plant: Banana plant

It comes from: the Canary Isles

Did you know? Bananas don’t grow on trees! They

don’t have a proper woody trunk, so are just a type of

large plant.

What colour are the

vanilla flowers?

....................................

....................................

What does a papaya

leaf look like? Draw

one here.

Which part of the ginger

plant do we use for food?

Circle the correct answer.

Roots

Flowers

Leaves

Custard Apple

It comes from:

......................................................................

The fruit tastes .............................................

The seeds and leaves can be used to

make ...........................................................

This is the peel of a ........................................

It would feel ..........................................................

It comes from: ......................................................

It takes 2-3 years to fruit, and ..................

months to ripen.

What other plants can you

think of that we eat or use to make other products?

The fibre from the

leaves can be used

to make:

Rainforest Plants

Answer sheet

Paw-Paw grows on the papaya tree.

It comes from Central America.

It can be used for food, making chewing gum and toothpaste,

tenderising meat and treating indigestion.

Name of plant: vanilla orchid.

It comes from Mexico.

Pure vanilla extract is expensive because the

plants have to be pollinated by hand, and the

pods take a long time to mature.

Ginger

It comes from Pacific Islands.

It can be used for cooking or treating

indigestion.

Which part of the ginger

plant do we use for food?

Circle the correct answer.

Roots

Flowers

Leaves

What colour are the

vanilla flowers?

Green/greenish-yellow

Custard Apple

It comes from the Caribbean Islands.

The fruit tastes sugary/sweet.

The seeds and leaves can be used to make soap and perfume.

This is the peel of a pineapple.

It would feel prickly, bumpy, spiky etc.

It comes from Brazil. It takes 2-3 years to fruit, and 5 months to

ripen.

Coconut tree

Avocado plant

Cocoa beans (for chocolate!)

Sugar cane

Coffee beans

The fibre from the

leaves can be used to

make pina, which is a fine cloth material.

What other plants can you

think of that we eat or use to make other products?

On your walk around the zoo looking for rainforest animals, think about which layer of the

rainforest they would be best at living in.

Draw or write the names of the rainforest animals you see in the layer of the rainforest you

think they might live in. One example has been done for you.

Rainforest Animals

The okapi

lives on the forest floor

Clue: Long arms for swinging, claws

or other adaptations for climbing.

Clue: Mainly animals who try to hide away from

predators in the flowers and plants (need to be

able to climb).

Clue: Camouflaged in the soil and tree

trunks. Not very good at climbing.

Clue: Wings or other adaptations for

flying or gliding, or very agile climbers.

Rainforest animals

Answer sheet

Rainforest Floor Understorey Canopy

Madagascar tree boa Black and white ruffed

lemur

Beaded lizard Tokay gecko Tamarins

Ring-tailed coati (Forages on the ground, but also climbs trees to look for fruit)

Bongo Green and black poison

dart frog

Sulawesi crested macaque

(also forages on the

rainforest floor during the

day)

Ocelot (climbs trees)

Okapi Siamang gibbon

Giant anteater Western black and white

colobus monkey

Collared peccary

Pygmy hippo

Lowland anoa

Brazilian tapir

Forest buffalo

Marwell map of rainforest animals

3

H

G

F

D

C

E

J

C

1. Colobus monkey

2. Forest buffalo and bongo

3. Okapi

4. Ocelot

5. Ring-tailed coati

6. Madagascar tree boa and

beaded lizard

7. Sulawesi crested macaque

9

8

5 6

10

1

2

4

13 11

7

3

12

8. Lowland anoa and siamang

9. Tamarins

10. Black and white ruffed lemur

11. Pygmy hippo

12. Brazilian tapir

13. Collared peccary

14. Giant anteater

Tropical World

14