Learning About Brazil

After we wrapped up the African countries we chose to study this year, we moved onto South America and the beautiful country of Brazil!

Basic Information

Brazil is a country in northeastern South America. It is bordered by Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the Atlantic Ocean. The climate is mainly tropical and about 60% of the country is covered in rainforest.

Capital- Brasilia

Population- 212 million

Size- 3.3 million square miles

Currency- Brazilian real

National Anthem- Hino Nacinal Brasileiro

Flag-

Famous Places and Monuments

The Amazon Rainforest- The Amazon Rainforest covers most of the north western portion of Brazil as well as parts of Peru and Columbia. It is the world's largest tropical rainforest and is home to a huge variety of plant and animal life including: jaguars, anacondas, capybara, poison dart frogs, sloths, caiman, river dolphins, toucans, woolly monkeys, and more.

The Amazon River- The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume and either the longest or second longest in the world, depending on who you ask. Learn more about how rivers are measured and why there's not a clear answer as to which is longest, with this short video from Atlas Pro: What's the Longest River on Earth?

Sugarloaf Mountain- Sugarloaf Mountain is a peak in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro. It's cable car ride is a popular tourist destination.

Recipes

-Bolinho de Chuva com Chocolate (chocolate truffle filled doughnut holes) This is the recipe we tried and they turned out amazing!

-Feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew)

-Pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)

Crafts and Activities

Layers of the Amazon Rainforest Activity

The Amazon Rainforest is home to an amazing array of wildlife including jaguars, anacondas, capybara, poison dart frogs, sloths, caiman, river dolphins, toucans, woolly monkeys, and more. Learn a little bit about some of the animals that live there with the following resources:

-Animals in the Amazon Rainforest

-What Animals Live in the Amazon Rainforest

Then watch this short video about the 4 layers of a rainforest: Layers of the Rainforest.

Next grab a free printable layers of the rainforest activity here. Have your child cut out the animals and glue them in the correct layer of the rainforest.

Carnival Masks!

Carnival is a celebration similar to Mardi Gras. It is one last big celebration before the season of Lent begins. In Brazil Carnival includes, parades, street fairs, parties, costumes, fancy masks, and lots of tasty food.

Watch a short video about Brazilian Carnival and then try making some colorful Carnival masks!

-10 Fascinating Facts About Brazilian Carnival

For our masks we used these free printable templates from 123kidsfun: Free Printable Masquerade Masks. Then we decorated them with markers, puffy paint, glitter, sequins, and feathers.

Additional Activity Ideas

-Research about Brazilian history and make a timeline

-Choose an animal of the Amazon Rainforest to research and write a short report about

Additional Resources

Websites:

-Brazil Country Profile from National Geographic Kids

-Geography for Kids- Brazil from Ducksters

Videos:

-Explore the Rainforest! Ecology for kids video from SciShow Kids

-Rainforests 101 from National Geographic

-Brazil! video from Geography Now!

Books:

-Where is the Amazon by Sarah Fibiny

-Little Kids First Big Book of the Rainforest from National Geographic Kids

If you enjoyed this post be sure to check out the other posts in my Learning About the Countries of the World series!

Follow me on:

Facebook

Instagram

Comments

Water Relay Races For Kids

I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely love games involving water and getting wet in the summer time. In this post I share 5 of our favorite water relay races to play with friends. These are perfect for birthday parties, homeschool get togethers, and other group events. Sponge Relay: For this relay you will need: - 2 teams of several kids each -2 large sponges -4 small buckets or containers of some sort Divide your participants into 2 teams and have each team line up single file at a predetermined starting place. Hand out a sponge to the first participant in each line. Set a bucket of water by each team. Set an empty bucket about 20 ft away from each team. The two empty buckets should be the same size and should have a "fill line" marked half way up. On a count of 3 (or ready set go) the first participant in each line should dip their sponge in the bucket of water, run to the empty bucket, squeeze the water from their spo

STEM Art: 21 STEAM Project Ideas

My kids love STEM projects and we're always looking for ways to add more art to our homeschool days, so I decided I am going to try to dedicate one morning a week this year to STEM art activities. In this post I share some of the ideas we're planning to try, plus a few favorites we've done in the past. What is STEM Education? STEM education is a blended and often hands on approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are some of today's fastest growing industries. STEM education offers students the opportunity to problem solve and work on real world problems and questions. Sometimes the acronym STEAM is used, to include the arts. Adding art to STEM education encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. It can also help make the other included subjects more appealing to some students. STEM Art Projects Penny Spinners- Learn about centrifugal force and make your own spinning tops with this fun post from Teach Beside Me. Explo

Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit

One of my family's favorite hobbies is rock hounding. We love collecting and trying to identify neat rock and mineral specimens that we come across. You can put together your own simple kit for identifying rocks and minerals with materials you likely already have around your home. In this post I will explain how to put together your own mineral identification kit and how to use it to identify rocks and minerals you find on your adventures. Making a Rock and Mineral ID Kit Grab yourself a printable Rock and Mineral Journal for recording your observations here: Printable Rock and Mineral Journal , and then gather the following supplies: -A pencil -A coin -An iron nail -A piece of glass (an old pocket mirror works well) -A ceramic tile -A small watertight bottle or container -Some vinegar -A magnet -A magnifying glass -A dropper (optional) -Rock and mineral guide (optional) -A small container or bag to keep it all in Fill the small watertight

Learning About Thailand: Activities and Resources

Thailand ended up being a really fun country to study. There are so many amazing Thai recipes to try and lots of neat buildings and monuments to learn about. My family's favorite part of this unit study was learning about Asian elephants, they are such interesting and intelligent animals! Basic Information Thailand is a country in southern Asia. It is boarderd by Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Andaman Sea. The northern region is mountainous while the southern region is hilly and forested. Capital- Bangkok Population- 69.6 million Size- 198,115 square miles Currency- Baht Type of Government- Constitutional Monarchy National Anthem- Phleng Chat Thai National Animal- elephant Flag Famous Places The Grand Palace- The Grand Palace in Bangkok was used as the official royal residence of Thailand from 1782 to 1925. It is still used today for ceremonies and state functions. The palace sits on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. It consists of many buildings and pavilions set around a

Learning About The Human Body Part 1: The Skeletal And Muscular Systems

At the end of each school year, I sit down with my daughter to discuss what topics she wants to learn about the next year. One of her science topics she picked to study this year was the human body. Instead of ordering a boxed curriculum set, I decided to put together my own human body unit. In this post I share some of the resources we used for learning about the human skeletal and muscular systems, plus instructions for a couple hands on learning activities. You can find my post about the human respiratory and circulatory systems here , and my post about the human digestive and nervous systems here . The Human Skeletal System Our skeletons are the frame of our body. They give us structure, without them our bodies would be limp like noodles. They also provide places for muscles to attach so our bodies can move. Why Does Your Body Need Calcium? Experiment: This is a simple experiment you can do to explore why calcium is important for our bones. You will need: -several clean

Search This Blog