Make toucan art projects for a rain forest lesson.
Observe the long, orange-yellow beak of a toucan. Listen to the rustle of the highest tree branches catching the first drops of tropical rain. Glimpse some of the hundreds of insect species that call the Amazon rain forest home. The warm and rainy Amazon, located near Earth's equator, spans more than 1 billion acres and produces over 20 percent of the oxygen on our planet. Teach art lessons to preschoolers that will bring the wonder of the rain forest alive.
Footprint Toucan
Ask a librarian to recommend books with pictures of toucans. Show the pictures to your class. Discuss the features of the colorful tropical birds. Trace and cut one footprint from black construction paper for each preschooler. Turn each footprint so that the heel is at the top. Paint a crescent-shaped swath of white paint along the right side of the head. Allow to dry. Give the footprints to the children. Cut 5-inch-long beaks from orange-yellow construction paper. Provide glue, markers and plastic wiggle eyes, available where craft supplies are sold. Let the children color the beaks if they wish. Attach the beaks and eyes to the toucans with glue. Glue black craft feathers to the bottom of the toucan as tail feathers.
Rain Forest Scene
After reading about and discussing the rain forest with your preschool class, make a collage art project that will remind youngsters of the lesson. Pass each child a 12-by-18-inch sheet of green construction paper, scissors and a glue stick. Provide forest green and brown construction paper. Ask your preschoolers to cut a forest full of tree trunks from the brown paper and leaves from the green paper. Instruct them to glue the trees and leaves the paper. Buy a tub of jungle animal-shaped craft foam pieces, available where crafts or teacher supplies are sold. Help youngsters to place the foam animals in the scene.
Spiral Snake
Snakes call the tropical rain forest home. Teach your preschool class to create snakes from paper plates, paint and markers. Give each student a dinner-size paper plate and a choice of red, green or yellow paint. Let the children paint the paper plates, front and back, in their chosen color. When the plates are dry, cut 1 inch into the edge of the plate and cut around it in a spiral until you reach the center of the plate. When all of the plates have been cut into spiral snakes, give them back to the children. Pass out markers so the children can draw eyes, stripes and other designs on the snakes. Hang the finished snakes from the classroom ceiling.
Rain Forest Tree
Create trees from cardboard tubes and green paper leaves. Before the children will make the art project, cut 20 or more leaves per child from green tissue paper and construction paper. Let preschoolers paint empty paper towel tubes with brown tempera paint. When dry, snip three 1-inch cuts in the bottom of the tube. Fold and flatten the resulting tabs so the paper tube tree trunk will stand. Let the children choose paper leaves to insert into the top of the tube. Place leaves into the top of the tree until no more will fit. Display the trees on a shelf in the classroom.
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