The Jungle

There are so many interesting things to learn about jungles and the animals and plants that live there. My boy was showing real interest in different exotic animals so this was a perfect theme to focus on this a little. The Jungle is another theme that could easily be transferred to a school or nursery setting for a more substantial topic and could be appropriate for all stages though looking at conservation, deforestation etc. Below is the mind map I used to plan this theme and a description of each of the activities we completed.

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Toy Animal Imaginative Play – resources: plastic animals (we used our Noahs ark boat and assorted plastic animals), different objects to create settings for the animals.

We used this toy as an introduction to our jungle topic. We talked about the different animals on the boat and where you might find them – e.g. cow lives on a farm, but a tiger lives in the jungle. We talked about what the animals looked like and what sounds they made. This toy makes the animal sounds when you put them into their space which was ideal, but we also checked it was correct by asking our Amazon Alexa to play the different animal sounds and asking her where they lived.

Robbie loves this toy, so it was a great way to introduce this theme to him.

Jungle Jigsaw Pictures – resources: magnetic jigsaw/ assorted stickers and paper.

Robbie got this brilliant magnetic jigsaw/whiteboard/chalkboard game for his birthday from his lovely Aunty, Uncle and cousins. It was a perfect way to explore the different habitats and animals in the jungle. We looked at pictures of jungle animals and their habitats on Google images, then worked together to try and make our own picture of them.

This could also be done using paper, stickers or printed pictures/pictures from nature magazines.

Jungle Animals Play dough Stamping – resources: green, yellow, blue play dough, various plastic animals.

Robbie loves his playdough so I always try and include it in our themes as often as I can. We pressed the feet and bodies of different animals into the playdough to see what shape would be left. We used different coloured playdough for where the different animals might be found – e.g. green for the lion as he’s found on the grassy planes or blue for an elephant as they like to be at the water holes.

We included animals that wouldn’t typically be found in the jungle as Robbie wanted to use them, like the pig, but we discussed that we don’t usually find animals like that in the jungle, talked about where we would see them (a farm) and how there are animals that are similar in the jungle (wild boar).

Fine-motor Skills Pasta Threading Snakes – resources: thick string/wool/pipe cleaners/shoelaces, different tube pasta shapes, pompoms, googly eyes, glue.

We made our snakes by threading penne pasta tubes and macaroni onto pipe cleaners. Then we stuck a pompom onto the end with glue and stuck on two googly eyes.

This was quite a challenging task for Robbie. It requires lots of fine-motor skills, which are still developing at his age, but using the more rigid pipe cleaners and more open penne pasta helped him to get the hang of it. The macaroni was much more difficult and would have been better if we had used string or a shoelace.

Toilet Roll Tube Binoculars – resources: two toilet roll tubes, brown paint, parcel tape, paper, string/shoelace.

To make our binoculars we covered our two tubes in parcel tape to make them brown coloured and stronger. Then we folded a piece of paper into a small square, covered this with parcel tape and stuck this to the two tubes. I then poke a hole in the outside edge of each tube, threaded a shoelace through and tied it off.

Robbie loved playing with his binoculars and taking them out on our “safari” walks around our estate. He was a great help sticking the parcel tape on.

Cheerio Giraffe picture – resources: plain paper, pens, glue cheerios, hair spray, googley eyes.

Mummy drew the outline of a giraffe onto a plain piece of paper. Robbie then stuck some cheerios onto the picture using Pritt-stick. After the Pritt-stick was dry mummy sprayed the picture with hair spray to make sure that the cheerios didn’t fall off.

Mummy struggled with drawing the giraffe outline for this picture so it’s a unique interpretation of a giraffe. Robbie enjoyed using cheerios to create a picture as it was something new and different, however, he mostly liked to eat the cheerios before they had a chance to be stuck on.

Fork and Paint Printing Lion picture – resources: half A4 plain paper, light brown paint, yellow paint, fork, black pen, googly eyes, glue.

Using a fork to paint was a new way to paint for us. We didn’t have any brown paint so we needed to mix some by combining red, blue and yellow. Then Robbie dipped the fork into the paint and stamped it round in a circle on the paper. Once this was dry we used yellow paint, in the same way, to make the lions main, drew on his mouth, nose and whiskers using black pen and stuck googly eyes on using Pritt-stick.

I decided to make this picture half an A4 page to make it easier for Robbie.

Cut and Stick Tiger Collage picture – resources: half A4 plain paper, orange paint, googly eyes, black paint, glue, pens.

This was a really effective picture and quite easy to do. I drew a rough outline of a tiger onto the plain paper, then Robbie and I painted it orange and painted the other half of the paper black. Once they were dry we stuck googly eyes on and drew on the nose, mouth and whiskers with a black pen. I cut the black painted paper into different shapes stripes and Robbie stuck these on using Pritt-stick.

Robbie likes everything to have a name so we named every animal picture we created.

Cut and Stick Zebra Collage picture – half an A4 plain paper, googly eyes, black paint, glue, pens.

This was another great fun activity and was very similar to the tiger picture. I drew the outline of the Zebra onto the paper. Robbie then stuck the eyes and cut up stripes onto the body using Pritt-stick. Finally, we drew on the tail, ears and main using a black pen.

Leopard Celery Stamping picture – resources: half A4 plain paper, brown paint, black paint, celery stalk, googly eyes, glue, pens.

Using celery for stamping with paint was great fun. Mummy drew the outline of the leopard onto the paper and we painted it brown. Once it was dry Robbie dipped his celery stalk into the black paint and stamped it onto the picture to make the spot pattern. Finally, we stuck on googly eyes and drew on a nose, mouth and whiskers.

Parrot Hand and Foot Print picture – resources: A4 plain paper, pens, red, blue, yellow and green paint, googly eyes, glue.

This is my favourite picture that we created during jungle week.

We painted Robbie’s foot red and stamped it onto the middle of the paper, then painted his hand blue, yellow and green in turn and stamped it down then side and left the picture to dry. Mummy drew a branch, leaves and a beak and we coloured them in using felt pens. Once the picture was dry we stuck the branch, leaves and beak onto the picture using Pritt-stick then stuck a googly eye on too.

Hand Print Jungle Animal Scene – resources: A4 paper, green paint, brown paint, yellow paint, grey paint, pens, googly eyes, glue.

Robbie loves painting himself when we get the paints out so I always try and incorporate this into our activities.

For this picture, I roughly painted the green vines and grass onto the A4 paper using a paintbrush. We then painted Robbie’s hand (and arm) brown, yellow and grey and stamped it onto the paper to make the animals bodies. When the picture was dry Robbie used a celery stalk and brown paint to stamp the giraffe’s markings on. I drew a monkeys head using felt pens on a spare piece of paper which Robbie then stuck onto the picture along with the googly eyes to finish the animals off.

Panda Fork Printing Picture – resources: half A4 plain paper, red paint, white paint, fork, black paint, googly eyes.

For this picture, we painted half an A4 piece of paper red and let it dry then Robbie used a fork and white paint to print in a circle to create the panda’s face. While the picture was drying I cut ears, eyes and a nose out of a piece of paper we had painted black earlier on. Once the white paint was dry Robbie stuck these and googly eyes on to finish the picture.

Jungle Sensory Play-dough Imaginative Play – resources: different coloured play dough, assorted plastic animals, toy trees/ lego trees etc, pipe cleaners, pompoms.

I put green, blue and yellow playdough onto a tray and worked corresponding colours of pipe cleaners, pompoms and toy trees into it. We then sorted the animals into the areas of jungle-green, waterhole-blue and sand-yellow and spent time exploring the materials with the animals and playing games with them.

Watering Hole Imaginative Play – resources: filled sand and water tray (alternatively large bowls or buckets with play sand and water in them – you can make edible sand by putting breakfast cereal into a food processor if you do not have play sand or want your activity to be edible), plastic animals.

When the weather was nice it was always a top priority to get outside as much as possible so this activity was great. We filled the water section of the tray with warm water, green food colouring and washing up liquid. We had lots of fun creating imaginative situations for the animals.

Jungle Stickers – resources: sticker book, stickers, paper.

During lockdown (2020) we were given lots of great sticker and colouring books by Robbie’s Granddad Willie from Wilko which we used as some downtime. Robbie loves stickers and this would keep him engaged for ages. Once we had filled the book we would make our own pictures on plain pieces of paper and we would use the stickers in our other art projects.

Jungle Animals Sorting and Shape Making – resources: plain paper, pens, plastic animals, large floor space.

This activity was great to allow Robbie to practice his shapes. Firstly I drew some wavy and zigzag path on some plain paper and Robbie lined his animals up along them, following the design I made. Then we created bigger shapes using the animals. We tried to see how many animals we could use and to see if Robbie could fit in the middle of the shape.

During these activities we talked about the animals we were using and the shapes we were making.

Swamp Messy Play – resources: Gelli Baff, bowls with water and water mixed with washing up liquid, assorted utensils, plastic animals.

This was a variation of the same imaginative play we did with the sand and water tray. I set up bowls with water and water mixed with washing up liquid, mixed up some Gelli Baff and set out some utensils and plastic animals.

Robbie loved playing with the water, specifically using the whisk to mix it up and make big splashes.

Shaving Foam Tiger Printing – resources: shaving foam, baking tray, yellow/red/black paint, plain paper.

I sprayed lots of shaving foam onto a baking tray then drizzled the different paints over the top. We then gently placed the paper over the top and pressed it onto the paint/foam. When we lifted the paper up the paint design was left on the paper.

I was really excited to do this activity and it produced great prints, however, it was messy and the paint tended to flake off with the foam once it had dried. I realise on reflection that after placing the paper into the shaving foam/paint mixture it is best to scrape the shaving foam off the paper before letting it dry.

Back Garden Jungle Safari – resources: binoculars (we made previously in the week), garden toys and furniture – for hiding animals, plastic and stuffed animals, ride-on toy – we used Robbie’s cosy coupe “Dino Car”.

While Robbie was sleeping I brought out all his garden toys from the garage and set them out around the garden. I then brought out all his plastic and stuffed toys and hid them on his toys. We got his binoculars I pushed him around the garden in his Cosy Coupe as he searched for the animals. We then did a Jungle animal scavenger hunt where I told him to find an animal and he brought it back to the bench.

Robbie had great fun doing this activity and wanted to play it over and over.

Tiger Cakes – Recipe here

These were really effective cakes and great fun with their unusual colouring. I used a traditional marble cake recipe but added orange extract and orange food colouring into the vanilla batter. I also added a little dollop of Nutella into the middle of each cake before putting them into the oven, which was lovely.

I like to try and incorporate baking into our routine as much as possible as it is great fun and has lots of educational benefits so these cakes fitted perfectly into our jungle themed week.