I’m sharing plant life in the Amazon rainforest facts and we’re making a giant rafflesia arnoldii craft. And I have more ideas on my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon, and Rainforest Amazon Activities for Kids.
The plant life in the Amazon Rainforest is beautiful and often unbelievable.
For example, the gorgeous bright Rafflesia arnoldii that looks like it’s straight out of science fiction and smells like rotting meat.
I couldn’t resist turning it into a craft project for our study on plant life in the Amazon Rainforest.
It turned out to be a super fun and colorful craft.
And we learned a lot about plant life in the Amazon Rainforest as we worked on it.
It was low budget and easier than it looks, my kind of project.
The hardest part of it was waiting between the drying sessions.
10 Facts About Plant Life in The Amazon Rainforest
- The Amazon Rainforest is home to more than two-thirds of the world’s plant species.
- The Rafflesia arnoldii is the biggest single flower found in the entire world at more than 3 feet across and its home is the Amazon Rainforest.
- The bloom of the arnoldii lasts just a little more than a week.
- The Kapok tree is the largest and most important species in the Amazon rainforest.
- All members of the genus Rafflesia produce huge flowers, the smallest still being the size of a dinner plate.
- More than 60,000 species of plants grow in the Amazon jungle.
- Many plants have adapted and developed drip-tip leaves that funnel water off themselves to prevent rotting and fungus growth.
- There are many plants that are used for medicinal purposes like fighting cancer to soothing asthma. Plants like the coca plant, White trillium flower, Sodo, and the Cinchona tree are so important to medicines.
- Jungle soil is shallow. Some of it’s like 4 inches deep yet some of the tallest trees in the world grow in it.
- Emergent trees as high as 200 feet and the crown of the emergent tree can spread to be the size of two football fields.
Then add some plant life in the Amazon rainforest hands-on activities.
Hands-on Activities Amazon Rainforest Plant Life
- This gorgeous puzzle that is filled with rainforest plants and animals is a great way to practice visual discrimination, fine motor skills, short-term memory, problem-solving, and spatial reasoning.
- Older students can dive more in-depth into the plant life of the Amazon rainforest in Chasing Plants: Journeys with a Botanist through Rainforests, Swamps, and Mountains.
- While the entire book does not just cover the rainforest, I found the beautiful vintage artwork for my inspiration for this activity in Botanicum which does cover environments, and rainforest plants like orchids, parasitic plants, and carnivorous plants.
- Encourage your child to research additional plant life in the Amazon rainforest like orchids, rubber trees, the passion fruit flower, poinsettias, the bird of paradise, and others. You can find many of these for sale at your local home and garden store. Take a field trip and see how many rainforest plants you can find and identify.
- The Leaf Detective tells all about Margaret Lowman and her work studying the natural world of the Rainforest.
Also, add some of these Amazon Rainforest books.
16 Rain Forest Animals For Kids Books & Resources
Add these rain forest animal books, games, and toys to round out your study of the animals of the rain forest.
This book explores the rainforest layer by layer and the creatures that make their home in each part of the rainforest.
Which rainforest animal is a frog that uses its eyes to help it swallow its food? Which rainforest animal is a bird with a big, colorful bill? Let's learn more about rainforest animals such as sloths, poison dart frogs, toucans, and more! Read With You's Who Am I? series encourages children to be more curious about the world around them as they learn fun facts about animals from across the globe.
Part of the critically acclaimed Over and Under series that includes Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt and Over and Under the Snow!Under the canopy of the rainforest hundreds of animals make their homes, but up in the leaves hides another world. Turn the pages of this beautiful and educational book to discover in words and mesmerizing illustration:
Animals like the slender parrot snake and the blue morpho butterfly.
The canopies where toucans and pale-billed woodpeckers chatter and call.
Capuchin monkeys who swing from vines and slow-moving sloths who wait out daily thunderstorms.
The rainforest is home to millions of plant and animal species. Some animals live high up in the trees, some crawl across the forest floor, and some tunnel underground, but they all depend on one another and the rain to survive. With colorful illustrations and fascinating diagrams from author-illustrator Kate Duke, In the Rainforest is a lively look at the most vibrant ecosystem on our planet.
This book introduces readers to the largest snake in the world: the anaconda. Readers learn about the life cycle, behavior, physical characteristics, and habitat of anacondas
Expanding the popular collection of animal books in the Learn to Draw Series, Learn to Draw Rainforest & Jungle Animals will teach kids how easy it is to draw a variety of exciting and exotic creatures from around the world. Each project starts with a basic shape and progresses with simple-to-follow steps to a finished realistic final colored artwork. While they’re learning, kids will also discover fun facts about each featured animal.
Imaginations will soar from the forest floor, up through the canopy and back down again, following the circle of life in this clever adaptation of the song “The Green Grass Grew All Around.” The jungle comes alive as children learn about a wide variety of the animals (jaguars, emerald tree boas, leafcutter ants, sloths, poison dart frogs, toucans, and bats) and plants (kapok trees, liana vines, and bromeliads) living in the lush Amazon rainforest. Delve even deeper into the jungle using sidebars and the three-page “For Creative Minds” educational section.
While it covers more than just the rainforest this is a fabulous resource to have on your shelves. You will find plenty of great pictures and information on many animals that live there- crocodiles, harpy eagles, monkeys, tapir , sloths,Jaguarundi, and the food web.
Tells a story of a man who came to cut down a kapok tree and encounters many of the beautiful and exotic native creatures who make their home in the Amazon Rainforest.
FUN FACTS: How about Reptiles versus Amphibians?! That's just one of the topic cards in this kids card game. Find out more fun facts from Eggs to the Komodo Dragon!
This bright and exciting Hello, World! board book teaches toddlers all about the amazing world of a rainforest—with easy-to-understand facts about the incredible animals who make their home there.
Human beings have inhabited the banks of the Amazon River since 13,000 BC and yet they make up just a small percentage of the "population" of this geographic wonderland. The Amazon River basin teems with life—animal and plant alike.
Compete to grow the most bountiful rainforest! Carefully select what grows in your forest, and give rise to a thriving ecosystem.
Vampire bats and killer ants? That's what Jack and Annie are about to run into when the Magic Tree House whisks them away to the Amazon River. It's not long before they get hopelessly lost. Will they be able to find their way back to the tree house? Or are Jack and Annie stuck forever in the rain forest?
NatureI n a tropical rain forest in Central America, a red-eyed tree frog spends the night looking for food while avoiding potential predators. Award-winning photographer Nic Bishop's larger-than-life, gorgeous images document the hunt, which ends happily with the frog settling down in the leaves to spend his daylight hours sleeping! Joy Cowley's simple, readable text makes the frog's story fun, interesting, and accessible to young readers.
Explores the richness of the Amazon rainforest, how humans have damaged it, and efforts being taken to protect it. Clear text, vibrant photos, and helpful infographics make this book an accessible and engaging read.
More Rainforest Activities for Kids
- Fun Easy Amazon Rainforest Crafts and Make a Bubble Wrap Pattern Anaconda
- Learn About Mammals In The Amazon Rainforest & Make an Adorable Sloth Craft
- Blue Morpho Butterfly Adaptations In The Tropical Rainforest and Fun Symmetry Craft
- Amazon Rainforest Predators and Make a Fun Pasta Emerald Tree Boa
- Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math
- Cute Colorful Toilet Paper Roll Rainforest Frogs for a Rainforest Frog Craft
- 18 Rain Forest Animals For Kids Books and Fun Resources
- Beautiful And Colorful Amazonian Rainforest Animals Lapbook For Kids
- 100+ Best and Free Tropical Amazon Rainforest Educators Resources
- The Ultimate Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the Amazon Rain Forest
- 3 Free and Amazing Amazon Rainforest Lapbooks for Kids
- Rainforest Crafts for Kindergarten: Make an Easy Paper Plate Monkey
- 19 Fun Hands-on Rainforest Activities for Kindergarten
- Rainforest Science Activities For Kindergarten Amazing and Fun Living Terrarium
- Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest – Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts
Finally, look how to make this giant Rafflesia Arnoldii flower craft.
How to Make a Paper Plate Giant Rafflesia Arnoldii Craft
You will need:
- 7 paper plates
- Red craft paint
- White craft paint
- Paint brushes
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun/sticks
Cut out the center of one plate.
You don’t have to go all the way to the edge but you want a large enough opening you can see well inside of it.
Take 5 plates and cut the rippled edge off along the bottom of the plate and then some up the sides to create a basic petal shape.
After I did the first one, I used it as a template to cut the other one so they were the same.
Leave the last plate intact.
Paint all plates red, allow them to dry, flip and paint the other side. Dry well again.
Add a little pink or another light accent color to the center of your intact plate and let it dry.
Flip over the full plate and hot glue each of the petals around the back side.
I put them about ⅓” from the edge all the way around.
If you want, use craft glues but I think hot glue is a better option for this project as it is rather heavy and hot glue dries quickly.
Flip the plate back over and hot glue the plate with the center cut out to the main center plate.
Draw little spiked shapes inside the center plate to create the center disk of the plant.
Finally use the back end of a paintbrush dipped in white paint or a white paint pen to create the dots all over the plant.
These are called warts. What do you think? Just too fun!
