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Iconic Rainforest Animals

Name and recognise iconic rainforest animals — jaguars, toucans, sloths, poison dart frogs, howler monkeys, macaws, and butterflies — and know which layer of the rainforest each lives in

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What a learner can do afterwards

  • Name at least five iconic rainforest animals such as jaguars, toucans, sloths, poison dart frogs, and howler monkeys
  • Match at least three animals to the rainforest layer where they live (e.g. monkeys in the canopy, jaguars on the forest floor)
  • Describe one distinctive feature of each named animal

1 · Read

The rainforest is home to jaguars, toucans, sloths, poison dart frogs, howler monkeys, and macaws. Each one lives in the layer that suits it best.

EmergentCanopyUnderstoryFloor
Toucans, macaws, sloths, and howler monkeys all live in the canopy. Jaguars stay down on the forest floor.

A toucan has a huge, bright beak for picking fruit. A sloth hangs upside down and moves so slowly that tiny plants can grow on its fur. Both spend their days in the canopy, the leafy roof of the forest.

Toucan: big beakSloth: very slowHowler: loud call
Every rainforest animal has something that makes it easy to spot.

A howler monkey swings through the canopy too. Its call is the loudest of any rainforest animal, and you can hear it a long way off. A macaw is a big parrot with bright red and blue feathers.

Try it together

Zara walks on the forest floor. A jaguar with spotted fur watches her from the shadows. Near her boots sits a tiny poison dart frog, bright blue. Its colors are a warning: stay away.

Rainforest animals each have their own look, their own trick, and their own layer to live in.

2 · Watch

Take it off screen

Print a worksheetA4 with an answer key page for grown-ups. No screen, no internet.

Where it sits

Where this leads

Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.

Then practise

8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.

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Iconic Rainforest Animals · Science, ages 5 to 7 · LightMySky