Make a Book of Trees

Take a walk around your backyard, a local park or the nearest wooded area–anywhere you’re likely to find different varieties of trees. As your child finds her favorites, let her make bark rubbings on squares of paper using the peeled-down side of a crayon or the edge of a pencil’s tip. Then, she can consult her handy guidebook to identify the trees. Finally, have your child collect a leaf, a bud or a few needles from the trees, to affix to the pages of her Book of Trees later on.

Sit down together near each tree and have a good long look at them. Start a conversation with your child about the trees, encouraging her to make a few observations about each. Ask questions such as, "Is it tall or short? Is the trunk skinny or wide? Does it have leaves? Are they green all year-long or will the leaves change colors?"

Listen and look for birds, squirrels and other creatures. Ask your child, “What types of animals might live in the trees during the day and after nightfall?” Can she think of other critters who might use the tree for shelter in a storm?

Journal your child’s thoughts about each tree or have your young writer take her own notes along with the leaves, needles and bark rubbings she collected to assemble her Book of Trees.

Cut a few pieces of colorful construction paper in half. Line them up neatly and punch holes along the side. Help your child glue a bark rubbing paper square to each piece of construction paper and do the same with each corresponding leaf, bud or needle(s).

Write the name of a tree at the top and a few of her observations along the bottom and sides. (If your child can write, let her do this part.) Ask your child if she would like to draw an animal or two that might call the tree home. Repeat until she has a page for each of the trees he collected data on. Finally, knot small pieces of yarn through each of the holes. Now, her Book of Trees is complete! Additional pages can easily be added to his Book of Trees, as she discovers new kinds of trees.

Another option for this activity is to study a year-in-the-life of a single tree. Identify one tree and follow the same steps above every season or quarter. Ask your child how the tree is changing and if different animals inhabit it or use it for shelter. Take a photo of it or have your child draw the tree as it changes throughout the year.