Hop on the Safari bus. We are going to take a jungle tour in the preschool classroom. It’s going to be a lot of fun for the kids, and I guarantee you’ll have fun.

Here are some ideas on how to start your jungle-themed lesson plan and some ideas to keep it going while your preschoolers are interested in the activity.

Here’s how to introduce the topic:

Day 1. Ask the children if they know what the word ‘jungle’ means. Explain what a jungle is for those who don’t know, and have a picture of a jungle so they can associate your description with the picture.

Day 2. Have books* in the library about jungles and animals that live in the jungle. They can be a mix of cartoon-like children’s books and real-life children’s books. (Your local library should be able to help you find books.)

Day 3. Look for pictures* of jungle animals in magazines, books, the Internet, calendars, or anywhere you can find them, laminate them, and hang them on classroom walls.

Day 4. Put jungle-themed toys on the toy shelf and place some jungle-themed puzzles in the puzzle area.

Day 5. Find a jungle-themed music CD and play it during playtime after talking about the jungle.

*If you have photos or books showing some kind of tribal people, you could make tribal masks for a creative art activity and the children can use them in the dramatic play center.

You can also place some paper towel tubes, pipe cleaners, markers, googly eyes, etc., on the art shelf and see what animals they create.

Here are some examples of animals you can introduce through books and pictures:

panthers

snakes

Bears

monkeys

zebras

giraffes

elephants

cheetahs

alligators

Rhinoceros

birds

Hippopotamus

Feel free to have an open discussion with the children. Talk about the colors of the animals, their teeth, their eyes, which animal each child likes best, etc.

If you want, you can also mention what the animals eat, but be sure to keep it simple. Children at this stage of life do not need to start learning about the words carnivores, herbivores, etc. Just keep things simple like say, a panther eats meat, a monkey eats fruit, a giraffe eats leaves from tall trees, etc.

Children will probably want to know where the animals’ homes are in the jungle. This information should be easy to find through the books and photos you have. If not, the library will have books on the individual animals you are talking about that will give you the information you need.

Here are some examples to get you started:

The animals will find homes within their habitat (the jungle) which they will make a home for themselves and their animal families.

The homes of animals in the jungle can be a nest, a den, a burrow, under a rock, in a hollow tree trunk, high up in trees, etc.

Then you can talk about which animal could live in a tree, which one could live under a rock, etc.

To incorporate this theme in the different areas of classroom programming, some examples could be:

Create a jungle-themed dramatic play center:

Make a jungle jeep, safari jeep or car out of a box or put 4 chairs together with a steering wheel standing in front of a chair.

Get some hats that look like a safari.

Binoculars for children.

Simulation chambers.

Put pictures of jungle animals on the wall and watch your preschoolers go crazy over this theme. 🙂

Here is a sand sensory idea:

Put some sand in the sensory bin.

Find some small rubber or plastic sand animals* that you would find in the jungle. (Snakes, beetles, insects, etc.)

Place these items in the sensory bin and you’re good to go.

*I have had great success finding almost everything I need at dollar stores. Search them, you will surely find what you are looking for.

Be as creative as you can with this theme. The possibilities are endless if you put your mind to it. When you listen to jungle music, you can incorporate creative movement into it. Have the children choose an animal they would like to pretend to be and move to the music like that animal. There is no right or wrong move, kids will have a lot of fun.

You can also translate this theme into outdoor gross motor games. You could bring some of the dramatic play items outside, like hats, binoculars, cameras, etc. Place a few cuddly toys here and there around the playground (make sure they get washed when you bring them in for the day) and go on a safari hunt in the great outdoors.

Children can ride a bike and make their own trail, they can go on a ‘lion/bear hunt’, they can run away from animals that ‘scare’ them, they can tiptoe and walk around animals that are ‘sleeping’ .

Remember to use your imagination and expand on what the children are doing and saying.

Enjoy a wonderful jungle themed lesson and go wild with adventure.