Rain Forest Jungle

These can be added or taken away to suit the needs of your group     

• Many different shades of green and brown and other colours – restricting the palette gives can be more interesting
• Brightly coloured and contrasting tropical flowers
• Reflective papers and foils to catch the light
• Lighting effects – stage lighting if available – domestic angle poise – changing the existing ceiling lights – covering windows or uncovering them

• monkeys screeching, parrots screaming, other jungle noises on a recording
• sound of dripping water from a garden pond fountain in a container – tin bath or bucket
• the recording of a running stream

• different textured fabrics hanging down will allow a variety of touching experiences as students progress through the hanging jungle.
• Woodchip on the floor – good to put plastic down to protect the floor and to facilitate collecting up afterwards – gives a different feel to the footsteps – or chair wheels
• Bare feet on the wood chip 
• Spraying students with a fine spray of water – some love this while others might be discomforted …

Gustatory

• Woodchip on the floor gives a rich scent.  Keeping it in the bag until just before use will maximise the strength of scent.
• Scent of tropical flowers
• Taste of tropical fruit e.g. magoes, passion fruit

How much of this you need will depend on how complex you want to make the environment.  If it is being put up for a short time you might decide just to go for the hangings.  If it is going to be in situ for a couple of weeks or a whole term then it may well be worth the time and trouble to add in some of the other elements too.

Smells/

Tastes

Sound

Water features

For introducing puppet or character

• Camouflage net
• Means of hanging the net above the students Lengths of fabric of different textures
• String for tying camouflage net up
• Paper for making large leaf shapes
• Cellophane and/or shiny paper for alternative textures for leaves Tissue paper flowers bright tropical colours
• Pegs or magnets if students are likely to tug hard at the hangings

• Scent in some form – essential oils – spray perfume – herbs – to put onto the flowers
• Bag of wood chip to scatter and give texture and smells
• Mangoes and passion fruit

• Recording of monkeys and parrots and other rain forest sound effects
• CD player

• Spray bottles for water – the type used to spray plants with a fine spray through a nozzle work well
• Tin bath or other receptacle for water. It needs to be big enough to accommodate the garden pump
• Small garden water pump

• Monkey puppets – parent and child
• Basic costume for character [see page xxx for note on costumes

1. Collect the materials you need from the above list - you may not need all of them - it will depend on what your purpose is. 
2. suspend the camouflage [or other] netting from hooks or poles and bases.  Tie the corners up first getting as much tension as possible so that the sag in the middle is minimised.  Tying a string across the centre of the net will help with this as will tying it off from the side of the net to the side of the room
3. Plaiting different coloured lengths of fabric together gives a richness to the hangings

• look at the creepers and vines
• feel the textures of leaves and vines with hands or as they drape across faces
• look at, touch and smell the flowers
• listen to the sounds of the jungle while amongst the trees
• feel the ‘rain’ – water spray bottles

Puppetry – Introduce a puppet – such as a monkey – into the jungle. 

• students could come across the puppet as they explore the jungle – this might be more fun and more of a surprise.  It has the potential to be more challenging to manage.  It will depend on your group which way you decide to introduce a puppet.
• students in a group facing the jungle – the monkey appears out of the trees and approaches them.  It is nervous at first approach.  Students find ways of gaining its confidence. Each student has time to get close to the monkey – feel its fur.  The monkey can become playful and untie shoe laces and steal things and run off into the jungle.  The benefits of this will be enhanced by taking lots of time for the meetings
• the monkey has a problem – it has lost its young and needs student help to find it in the forest – the students go one by one to search for it and then return to the group and the monkey to report on what they have seen 

Introduce a character – a woman in shabby clothing

• as for the monkey above – the woman can be discovered in the jungle or can come out of it
• the woman has a problem.  The problem you decide on will depend upon the age and abilities of the group. 

•-          she is lost – can the students help her find the path?  The students go into the jungle to see if they can locate a path – if so they guide her to it and she thanks them and goes on her way

•-          she has lost something – her pet monkey, her child, her purse, something precious.  The students help search the jungle and find what was missing

Raising self esteem – by allowing students to enter the rain forest one by one, unaccompanied

Working on own initiative – students decide whether or not to go into the forest to look for the monkey.  If they decide not to go then that is accepted.  They are not going into the forest to please us or to achieve a mark

Turn taking – going one by one [or two at a time] into the jungle to look for the lost item

Valuing own and others’ work – if you get the students to help build the jungle then standing back and spending some time looking at their work will give chance to see how effective it is.