Resources

Resources for Kids

Web Sites

Rainforest Alliance For Kids
Great activities include coloring book, online rainforest stories, fascinating animal facts and easy ways you can help protect the Earth.

All About Rainforests
This site for kids from Enchanted Learning Software contains basic information on the rainforests and their location, a glossary, clasroom activities, rainforest links, and much more.

The Rainforest Biome
This page is part of a larger site on the world's biomes.  In this section, students can learn about the climate, plants, animals, and interesting facts about the rainforest biome.

Rainforest: Virtual Tour
This site includes a virtual tour of rainforest plants and animals.  It contains beautiful photgraphs with written descriptions.  This is a wonderful site for older students who want to learn more about rainforest life.

Virtual Wildlife:  Tropical Forests
This site from the World Wildlife Federation provides a basic introduction to rainforests and their inhabitants.

Children of the Amazon
A field trip to an Ecuadorian Village from the perspective of the children who live there, with poetry, photos, interesting facts, and curriculum connections for  teachers. Designed by Creative Connections.

Good Green Fun
Music and Rainforest Ecology. GREAT for kids.

Rainforest Action Network's Kids Page
Features: 7 steps  kids can take, Question and Answer, Rainforests are full of Life, Kids Rainforest Art Gallery, Rainforest People, Rainforest Animals, What kids are Doing, and Your actions can change the  world
 

Books

Resources for Teachers

Web Sites

Rainforest Alliance - Teacher Packet
A goldmine of information which includes everything you need to connect your students to conservation.

Allies in the Rainforest
What schools can do to help our local partners stop the destruction of tropical forests.

Children of the Amazon
A field trip to an Ecuadorian Village from the perspective of the children who live there, with poetry, photos, interesting facts, and curriculum connections for  teachers. Designed by Creative Connections.

Good Green Fun
Teacher listing of environmental educational web sites, including links to lesson plan resources, crash courses in HTML and website maintenance, science exhibits, and science museums, etc.
http://www.goodgreenfun.com/oldindex.htm   is the old index listing, which  has Song Samples, Lyrics, Environmental Education Activities, Rainforest WWW Links for Tropical and Temperate Rainforests.

Rainforest Action Network Teacher Resources
Abundance of information on ordering teacher packets or student packages (VIRTUALLY FREE), downloading a packet from the internet, fact sheets, activities, etc. The packets are grade or age specific and can be ordered online as well as downloaded online.

Jason Project X - Rainforests: Wet and Wild Adventures
Help students relive the 10th Anniversary of the JASON Project and our comparative study of temperate, tropical, and fossil rainforests. First, travel back 63 million years with us as we excavate an ancient rainforest site in Colorado. Then explore the lush temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. Finally, journey to the site of our live April 1999 expedition, deep within the tropical rainforests of  Peru.

Live from the Rainforest-
A wonderful web site which is geared towards older children and adults. LIVE FROM THE RAINFOREST (LFRF) explores the most diverse and concentrated areas of life on our planet -- the Amazon basin and other rainforests. It brings Life and Earth sciences, and remote sensing to the classroom through video, hands-on, and online activities. Students get to know the scientists through chat sessions, television programs, and online field journals. There is even the opportunity to participate in an online collaborative project that will provide an incentive for students to get out and conduct field research in their own environments. Experience one of the most dramatic and interesting environments on Earth!

From: the Rainforest Alliance Page http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/index.html
Below is a sampling of books they list.
For a complete listing, go to: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/marketplace/books/index.html

Books on the Rainforest (General)

Amazon Journal   Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier
  by Geoffrey O'Connor   Plume, 1998

The Fate of the Forest:  Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon
   by Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn   Verso, 1989

Floods of Fortune:  Ecology and Economy Along the Amazon
By Michael Goulding, Nigel J.H. Smith, and Dennis J. Mahar
Columbia University Press, 1995

One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest
 by Wade Davis  Touchstone Books, 1997

The Catfish Connection:  Ecology, Migration, and Conservation of Amazon Predators  by Michael Goulding, Ronaldo Barthem    Columbia University Press, 1997

 

Book on Indigenous People

Ethnoecology  Situated Knowledge/Located Lives
   by Virginia D. Nazarea  University of Arizona Press, 1999

The Law of the Mother Protecting Indigenous Peoples in Protected Areas
   by Elizabeth Kemf  Sierra Club Books, 1993

Voices from the Amazon by Binka Le Breton Kumarian Press, 1993
 

Books on Rainforest Creatures, Animals, Etc.

The Birder's Bug Book    by Gilbert Waldbauer    Harvard Univ Pr, 1998

Ecology of Tropical Plants by Margaret L. Vickery  Wiley, 1984
Adapted from Plants and Environment by R.F. Daubenmire. Discussion of botany and tropical  plant ecology.

A Field Guide To Medicinal And Useful Plants Of The Upper Amazon
by James L. Castner, Stephen L. Timme, James A. Duke  Feline Books, 1998
Frogs    by James Martin, Art Wolfe (photographer)   Crown Publishers, 1997
James Martin and Art Wolfe combine to bring young readers a fascinating
look at the frog, including their metamorphosis. Hardcover, 32 pages.

Primates:  The Amazing World of Lemurs, Monkeys and Apes  by Art Wolfe (Photographer), Russell Mittermeier, Chronicle Books, 1997
Art Wolfe has traveled around the world to capture 200 beautiful   color photographs of primates in their natural habitats. Paperback,  176 pages.

The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates by Noel Rowe     Pogonias Pr, 1996
 

VIDEOS (GRADES K-12)

The following listing and descriptions are courtesy of: The Rainforest-Alliance Teachers and  Kids  page.
For a complete listing of videos on the Rainforest, go to the Rainforest Alliance's Resource listing at: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/education/index.html

Ana in the Rainforest. 11 minutes/Grades K-4
In an animated dream, Ana takes an  imaginary journey to a tropical rainforest where she finds a cure for her sick iguana. While there she learns about the rainforest -- its beauty and complex life cycle. Ana also learns about the dangers the forest faces and wakes up determined to help save them.  (With Study Guide) Bullfrog Films, www.bullfrogfilms.com, (800) 543-FROG

Animals of the Rainforest. Grades 3 ö 6 The wonderful sights and sounds of the rainforest come to life in this program -- part of the Rainforest for Children Video Series -- to introduce students to the many insects, reptiles, birds and other animals thriving in the layers of the tropical rainforest.  The children will learn facts about where animals live, what they eat, how they adapt to changes in their environment and how they protect themselves from predators. . Distributor: Library Video Company. 1996, 25 min. Videotape.

Battle For The Trees. 57 Min. * Ages 14 to Adult. Documents one of North America's most important and contentious environmental crises -- the clear cutting of the largest remaining temperate rainforest on the continent. Battle for the Trees combines striking views of massive clear cuts with often passionate commentary from both sides,    including forestry experts, logging company officials, environmentalists, and native     people whose way of life is threatened by the clear cuts. Video Project,     www.videoproject.org, 1-(800)-4-PLANET

Decade of Destruction: Classroom Version. 6 video programs /10 -19 minutes each /Grades 6-12.
With support from the World Wide Fund for Nature, Adrian Cowell has created a series of six programs for use in classrooms based on his epic saga of the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest during the 1980's. The series gives students a well-rounded view of the many complex factors that led to what may be this century's worst environmental disaster. With Study Guide. Bullfrog Films,  www.bullfrogfilms.com, (800) 543-FROG

The Emerald Forest is an engrossing feature film, based on a true story. Distributor:    Films, Inc., 800/323-4222. 1985, 114 min. Film, also available in video stores

Jaguar Trax. 34 Min. * Ages 10 - 15 * 1995. Featuring a talented cast, Jaguar Trax     is an entertaining, fact-based tale designed to teach young people the value of tropical      rainforests, preserving biodiversity, and sustainably grown products. Study Guide     included. Video Project, www.videoproject.org, 1-(800)-4-PLANET

The Lorax is Dr. Seuss' classic environmental warning. Distributor: Population    Reference Bureau, Inc., 202/639-8040. 1972, 25 min. Film.

People of the Rainforest. Grades 3 - 6. Part of the Rainforest for Children Video Series, this  fascinating program introduces students to the diverse lifestyles of people living in the     tropical rainforests of Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.  Children     will learn about their customs, skills, medicines and survival in the rainforest as well as their arts, music and spiritual beliefs. Distributor: Library Video Company.  1996, 25 min. Videotape.

Plants of the Rainforest. Grades 3 ö  6. Part of the Rainforest for Children Video Series, this programâs extraordinary visuals introduce young students to some of the many flowers,  vines, fungi and tress found from the rainforest floor to the top of the forest canopy.  Presenting information on dozens of plants, the program explains the ecology of the  forest and explores the human uses of the rainforest for food and medicine. Distributor: Library Video Company. 1996, 25 min. Videotape.

Rain Forests: Proving Their Worth. 30 Min. * High School to Adult. Is a living rain forest of greater economic value than one that has been cut down? The international  marketing of foods, cosmetics, and crafts derived from tropical forests may provide native inhabitants with the economic means to protect their vanishing lands. Rain  Forests: Proving Their Worth explores this promising movement to market sustainably collected forest products. Several hopeful developments are presented: new groves of peach palms in Costa Rica, bustling markets on the Amazon, and environmentally conscious American companies successfully using renewable forest  products. Video Project, www.videoproject.org, 1-(800)-4-PLANET

Songbird Story. 13 minutes/Grades K-6. Migratory songbirds, including tanagers,
buntings, and orioles, are disappearing. What does it mean? Where have they gone? In our backyards in North America, the songbirds' nesting habitats are being lost to development of the land. But is that the whole story? Two young children, out for an afternoon of fun and adventure, discover some answers. Bullfrog Films,
 www.bullfrogfilms.com, (800) 543-FROG

A Walk In The Rainforest. 11 minutes/Grades P-6. Eight-year-old Jason Harding of     Belize, Central America, takes two friends on a guided tour of his rainforest home   pointing out the rich diversity of life there and the desirability of saving such important places. Bullfrog Films, www.bullfrogfilms.com, (800) 543-FROG

You Can't Grow Home Again. 58min/Grades 2 - 7. This program provides an excellent introduction for younger children to the rainforests and the concept of biodiversity. The video goes on location to Costa Rica for a friendly view of the rainforest and some of the animals that live there. This is a program that brings science to life in an engrossing and entertaining way. It can easily be shown in shorter stand-alone segments. Video Project, www.videoproject.org, 1-(800)-4-PLANET