Layers of the Rainforest

Teaching ideas for Layers of the Rainforest

Pick the ideas that suit your class, then follow the plan or use the sheets in any order.

• Act it out. Students stand tall with arms up as the giant trees, link arms as the canopy, crouch as the plants of the understory, and lie flat as the forest floor.
• Build it on the wall. Tape four strips of paper to a wall or a door, one for each layer. Students draw animals, cut them out and stick each one in its layer.
• Try the light. Hold a flashlight over one sheet of paper and look at the light that comes through. Add a second sheet, then a third. Less light gets through each time, like sunlight on its way down through the leaves.

A plan for the week

Day 1	Open with one of the ideas above. Show the labeled diagram and name the four layers together. Then students label the blank one.	Rainforest Layers Diagram Blank Rainforest Layers
Day 2	Read “A Forest With Four Floors” together and answer the questions.	A Forest With Four Floors
Day 3	Students read the clues, then cut and paste the nine animals on “Who Lives Where?”	Who Lives Where?
Day 4	Students draw an animal in each layer on “Fill the Rainforest” and color it.	Fill the Rainforest
Day 5	Check with “Which Layer?”	Which Layer?

Layers of the Rainforest worksheets

There are 6 free printables with answer keys for grades 1 to 3: the labeled diagram and the blank one to label, then “A Forest With Four Floors” (a reading passage), “Who Lives Where?” (a cut-and-paste sheet), “Fill the Rainforest” (a drawing sheet) and “Which Layer?” (a circle-the-answer sheet).

The sheets are in a suggested teaching order: show the labeled diagram, have students label the blank one, read the short text together, then cut and paste, draw and circle. The answer keys are together at the back.

Every sheet is free to download on this page, one at a time or as one file.

The four layers of the rainforest

A rainforest is built like a tall building with four floors. Different plants and animals live on each one. Here is what happens at each labeled part of the diagram:

Layer	What it does	Why it matters
Emergent layer	The very top. A few giant trees poke out above all the others into the open sky.	It is sunny, hot and windy up here. The giant trees can be as tall as a 20-story building. Harpy eagles nest in them and watch for food below, and macaws fly over the treetops.
Canopy	A thick roof of leaves and branches made by the tops of most of the trees.	The canopy catches most of the sunlight and the rain. It is full of fruit, flowers and leaves to eat, so more animals live here than in any other layer. Toucans, sloths and monkeys can spend almost their whole lives here without touching the ground.
Understory	The shady space under the canopy, with young trees, vines and plants with very big leaves.	Very little sunlight gets through the canopy, so it is dim, still and damp here. Plants grow big leaves to catch what light there is. Tree frogs and snakes such as the boa live in this layer.
Forest floor	The ground. It is the darkest layer, covered in fallen leaves, roots and ferns.	Almost no sunlight reaches the forest floor. Fallen leaves rot quickly in the warm, wet air and turn into food for the trees. Big animals such as the jaguar and the tapir walk here, along with millions of ants and other insects.

How to print

Choose Download PDF for a ready-to-print file that fits US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in portrait, or Download PNG for the high-resolution image.

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