• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

  • HOME
  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • PR/Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Montessori
    • About Montessori
    • Resources
    • ABCs of Montessori
    • Overview
    • Principles
    • Free Printables
    • Materials
    • Homeschool Classroom and Materials
      • Circle Time Activities
    • Techniques
    • Training
      • Free Montessori Video Lessons
    • Inspiration
  • Activities
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Art
    • Cultural
    • Language
    • Math
    • Practical Life
    • Practical Life – Grace and Courtesy
    • Sensorial
    • Unit Studies
    • PreK + K Sharing
    • Monthly Themed Activities
    • Holidays and Celebrations
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool High School
    • Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials
    • Unit Studies
    • PreK + K Sharing
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Monthly Themed Activities
    • Holidays and Celebrations
    • Free Montessori Video Lessons
  • Free Printables
    • Free Printables
    • Sign up for the Living Montessori Now Newsletter & Get Monthly Subscriber Freebies!
    • More Than 13 Years’ Worth of Free Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities
    • Free Montessori Geography Album
  • Holidays
    • Resources for Upcoming Holidays
    • Holidays and Celebrations
  • Subscribe
    • Sign up for the Living Montessori Now Newsletter & Get Monthly Subscriber Freebies!
  • Shop
    • Shop
    • Products
    • My Products

Montessori-Inspired Continent Activities with Animal Figures – South America

July 3, 2013 By Deb Chitwood 4 Comments

Montessori-Inspired Continent Activities with Animal Figures - South AmericaI love Montessori geography activities for giving young children hands-on experiences in world geography. I also love Little Passports Global Adventure for adding extra interest to a study of the world. And I love Safari Ltd. replicas for their realistic detailing and for adding interest to themed learning activities.

Disclosure: Safari Ltd. gave me the TOOBS and poster used to prepare these activities. My opinions are honest and my own.

For this post, I used the Safari Ltd. Rainforest TOOB, Insect TOOB, Butterflies TOOB, Venomous Creatures TOOB, Exotic Birds TOOB, and Monkeys and Apes TOOB. Every replica in the Rainforest TOOB can be found in the South American rainforest. The other TOOBS contain animals from a variety of continents. If you’re planning a world study, you’ll find it helpful to have the other TOOBS for a number of activities as well.

The activities in this post work well in conjunction with a Montessori South America continent box. (Note: I made the background of the collage pink to go with the pink South America on the Montessori world map. ;)) These activities could also be used for a study of South America before (and after) the Little Passports Brazil package arrives.

Obviously, South America is a very diverse continent with much more than a tropical rainforest climate. Safari Ltd. has a wide range of animal TOOBS that fit in with various climates. Just adapt your activities to the level of your child or students.

Printable Keys: Thanks to Kateva from Safari Ltd. for the educational keys for each TOOB! These are very useful not only for simple matching activities, but also as a way for you to keep your TOOBS organized and for older children to use as keys for research or for organizing the animals in the proper TOOB. If you click on each link, you can save and print out the educational key for each TOOB: Rainforest TOOB Key, Insect TOOB Key, Butterflies TOOB Key, Venomous Creatures TOOB Key, Exotic Birds TOOB Key, and Monkeys and Apes TOOB Key.

South America Tray

South America Tray

A simple activity would be to have a tray with the animals from the Safari Ltd. Rainforest TOOB and a satellite map of South America. You can download and print out a free South America satellite map from Wikimedia Commons.

Note: You can omit the red eye tree frog if you wish. Some prefer to keep the red eye tree frog only in Central America. I kept it in the South America animals because National Geographic says the red-eyed tree frog is “found in tropical lowlands from southern Mexico, throughout Central America, and in northern South America.” For this activity, a young preschooler can just place the animals on the map without focusing on where on the continent they would be found. For an older child, you could discuss the location within South America.

Rainforest Animals on Satellite Map of South America

Rainforest Animals on Satellite Map of South America

A young preschooler could just learn the names of the animals and arrange them on the South America map however he or she chooses. As in this photo, the animals wouldn’t be placed where they actually live on the continent. It would still be helpful for the young child to have this hands-on activity to help identify rainforest animals and the shape of South America.

Rainforest Matching Activity

Rainforest Matching Activity

Another simple activity to prepare would be to have a young child match the Rainforest TOOB replicas to the educational key (see above) for the Safari Ltd. Rainforest TOOB.

If you have a rainforest poster, you could use that to place animals on the poster. This could also be the basis for an elementary-level research project about which continent each rainforest animal is from.

Butterflies and Venomous Creatures on Safari Ltd. Rainforest Poster

Butterflies and Venomous Creatures on Safari Ltd. Rainforest Poster

Preschoolers could be given some rainforest animals from South America that they could match on the poster according to type of animal.

Safari Ltd. TOOBS for Study of Rainforest Animals

Safari Ltd. TOOBS for Study of Rainforest Animals

A tray with the Insects TOOB, Butterflies TOOB, Venomous Creatures TOOB, Exotic Birds TOOB, Monkeys and Apes TOOB, and Rainforest TOOB (with keys either on the tray or in another location on the shelf) could provide a thorough hands-on study of rainforest animals either with or without the Tropical Rainforest poster.

Have you used Safari Ltd. TOOBS for South America activities?

If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards),  Twitter (blog posts by me and others along with the Parent/Teacher Daily and other interesting information), and  Google+ (post updates and Montessori Community). I’m also a Parenting Expert on Sulia. Thank you for following me there. And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter in the right sidebar. You’ll get two awesome freebies in the process!

Linked to Tuesday Tots, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions at Milk and Cuddles and Crystal & Co., The Weekly Kid’s Co-op, Ultimate Mom Resources, Hearts for Home Blog Hop, Learn & Link, TGIF Linky Party, Preschool Corner, Sharing Saturday, Saturday Show & Tell, Share It Saturday, Show-and-Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, Afterschool Express

 

Filed Under: Activities - Cultural Tagged With: continent box, geography, Little Passports, Little Passports Brazil, Montessori, Montessori continent boxes, Safari Ltd., Safari Ltd. TOOB keys, South America

Previous Post: « Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Brazil
Next Post: Thank You’s for June 2013 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shirley Gilchrist says

    July 3, 2013 at 8:57 am

    The clarification is helpful and has been noted. I do appreciate the ideas for using the Toobs to enhance the study of South America when focusing on the study of the rainforest.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 3, 2013 at 11:46 pm

      Thanks, Shirley! I hope parents and teachers find the activities and resources helpful. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Leann says

    July 10, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    I LOVE Safari Ltd toobs! Their figures are just perfect for continent studies! I’m featuring you tomorrow as one of my favorite posts from last week’s Hearts 4 Home bloghop!

    Reply
  3. Carrie says

    July 12, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    What great lessons!! I love the idea of using the animals to study South America! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

What Are You Looking For?

...and get free geography album, monthly subscriber freebie, and access to the Living Montessori Now Resource Library! 

 I respect your privacy

Categories

Shop Living Montessori Now!

Living Montessori Now Sponsors

Montessori Print Shop

Alison's Montessori
Montessori for the Earth

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives

I Recommend (My Affiliates)

Montessori by Mom

Shop Montessori Services
Shop For Small Hands

How to Get Kids to Listen without Nagging, Reminding, or Yelling



Shop KiwiCo

Shop Little Passports for Award-Winning Adventure

Printed Alphabet Wood Tracing Board

Little Passports

Footer

Connect with LMN



Supervision

The activities shared on this blog require adult supervision at all times. You know which activities are appropriate for your children and/or the children under your care and are responsible for those children's safety.

You Can Also Find Me

Bits of Positivity PreK + K Sharing Spring Snow Publications

Subscribe by Email


Copyright © 2025 Deb Chitwood · Web Design & Hosting · Servously.com