Tremendous Trees
Trees are a hugely undervalued element of the natural world. Not only do they cleanse the air, provide shelter, food, materials and medicine, they are also homes to hundreds of bugs and beasts. These activities aim to encourage children to stop and look at these fantastic giants which are all around us.
Meet a Tree
This game is a superb way of encouraging children to interact
fully with the natural environment. Divide the children
into pairs and give each pair a blindfold. They must decide
who will be the first guinea pig - this individual must have
the blindfold tied securely in place across their eyes.
Instruct their partner to lead them slowly and carefully to the
base of a nearby tree. The blindfolded child should touch
the tree, listen to the sounds the leaves make and breathe deeply
through their nose to detect any odours! Their partner will
then guide them safely back to base and remove their blindfold.
With no help from their partner, the first child should return to
the trees and deduce which tree they had been led to. The
children can then swap roles. Please note; this activity has
obvious safety issues. Ensure the ground used is flat and
that the children are closely supervised.
Equipment: blindfolds
Leaf Bingo
This activity increases levels of observation and teaches
differences between tree species. It's also a great
way to run off any excess energy! Prior to the activity
draw a grid (6 boxes is normally adequate) and, taking into
account the species of trees in the vicinity, draw a picture of a
leaf or a tree characteristic (such as 'White Bark' or
'Evergreen') in each box. Photocopy this sheet
and cut up some of these sheets into their respective boxes.
Fold these up and put them in a 'hat' (or envelope).
Give each participant one of the uncut sheets and a pen or pencil.
Pull out a drawing from the hat and encourage the children to
find the tree with the particular leaf or characteristic shown.
The first one (or five, depending on the number of children) to
stand under the correct tree gets to cross the respective box off
on their sheet. The first to cross all boxes is the winner
and should shout out 'Leaf Bingo!' Note; it is
useful to have an adult close by each tree you are planning to
use, to save any squabbles about who is first.
Equipment: paper, pens, pencils, 'hat'.
Bark Rubbing
This old chestnut (pardon the pun!) never fails to amuse.
Using crayons to pick out the bark pattern on a piece of paper
held against the trunk is pleasurable on its own, but can also be
used to make the trunk of a collage tree, with leaves made either
from dead leaves collected and painted or from colourful hand
prints.
Equipment: large paper, thin paper, crayons, glue, paint.
Willow Weaving
Properly prepared and soaked, young willow shoots (or withies)
are flexible enough to be used for a variety of purposes.
In the past, we have made star decorations for Christmas trees,
spiders' webs and, more practically, bird feeders.
This is quite a specialist activity. If you would like
information on suppliers of withies or patterns for objects,
please contact the Countryside Ranger Service on 01329 824843.
Equipment: withies, templates (wool, glitter, glue).
Tree Assessment
Working out that a tree is older than your grandparents can be a bit of a shocker, but with our rough method of age assessment, children can hone their mathematical skills and learn about trees all in one go. Instruct the children to measure the girth (circumference) of a trunk at chest height using a tape measure. Now help them to divide this figure (in centimetres) by one of these numbers, depending on the tree species; oak 2, hazel, ash, elm or beech 2.5, sycamore, pine or spruce 3, holly or yew 1. Your answer will give you the rough age of the tree.
To determine a tree's height, ask the group to split into
pairs and choose a tree. Arm each pair with a small ruler
and have a tape measure to hand. Instruct one of the
children to hold the ruler vertically at a comfortable distance
from his eyes and move towards or away from the tree until the
ruler appears to be the same size as the tree. Keeping the
ruler at the same distance from their eyes and staying in the
same spot, the child should then turn the ruler so it is
horizontal and line one end of it with the foot of the tree.
Their partner must then stand in line with the other end of the
ruler. Next ask them to measure the distance between the
second child and the tree. This will give you the rough
height of the tree.
Equipment: tape measures, rulers
Trees as Habitats
Trees make superb habitats for all sorts of creepy crawlies. Begin by asking the children what a habitat is and what animals need from a habitat. A tree can provide all the necessary requirements: food, water and shelter. Ask the children which creatures could use the tree as a habitat (normally the fluffy ones are mentioned first!). Arm a few children with bug pots - this will be your first team of bug catchers (if you have too many, the insects are likely to get trodden on and fought over). Lay out a plain, light coloured sheet beneath the canopy of a tree. Grab a low hanging branch (not too small) and shake the branch quite firmly. This action should dislodge a variety of insects for the children to carefully collect.
Please note; as with any creature collection, all mini-beasts
must be returned to the area they were collected from following
observation. The numbers of different insects in different tree species can be
recorded to enable comparison of each tree's suitability as
a habitat.
Equipment: sheet, bug pots.
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