Materials Needed:
- Paper (white and colored construction paper)
- Crayons or markers
- Leaves, twigs, seeds/acorns (collected from outside, if possible)
- Magnifying glass (optional)
- Glue or tape
- A simple book about trees (optional)
Introduction: What is a Tree? (5 minutes)
Let's talk about something really big and important that lives outside... TREES! Have you seen a tree today? Trees are amazing plants. They are alive, just like us and our pets! They stand tall and help our Earth.
Activity 1: Tree Hunt & Observation (15-20 minutes)
Let's go on a tree hunt! We can look outside our window or take a short walk (if possible). What do you see? Look for different kinds of trees. Are they tall or short? Do they have leaves? What color are the leaves? Gently touch the bark of a tree trunk. How does it feel? Rough? Smooth? Let's carefully collect a few fallen leaves, small twigs, and maybe a seed or acorn if we find them. If we can't go outside, we can look at pictures of different trees.
Activity 2: Parts of a Tree Puppet (15 minutes)
Trees have different parts, just like we have arms and legs! Let's draw a big tree on our paper, or we can make one using construction paper. What parts does a tree need?
- Roots: (Draw underground or glue brown paper strips at the bottom) These are like the tree's feet, holding it in the ground and drinking water.
- Trunk: (Draw a thick brown middle part or use brown paper) This is the strong body of the tree.
- Branches: (Draw lines coming off the trunk or use twigs/brown paper) These are like the tree's arms, reaching for the sun.
- Leaves: (Draw green shapes, use real leaves, or green paper cutouts) These help the tree make food from sunlight!
We can use our collected leaves and twigs to decorate our tree picture! We can even make it into a simple puppet by taping a craft stick to the back.
Activity 3: Leaf Exploration (10 minutes)
Let's look closely at the leaves we collected (or drew). Are they all the same shape? Same size? Same color? Use the magnifying glass (if you have one) to see the tiny lines (veins) in the leaves. We can make leaf rubbings: place a leaf under a piece of paper and rub the side of a crayon over it to see its shape and texture appear!
Wrap-up: Why Trees are Terrific! (5 minutes)
Trees are so important! They give animals homes (like birds and squirrels), they give us shade on sunny days, they help clean the air we breathe, and they give us yummy fruit and wood for building things. Let's give our tree drawings or puppets a round of applause! Can you name one part of a tree? What's one thing trees do for us?