Learning about Trees

July 25, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Trees are a great topic any time of year, but I like to talk about trees in the summer because if you have to be outside, at least you can be in the shade. But of course you can learn about trees indoors, too, as a lot of these activities will show.

The Crafty Classroom has ideas for a tree unit study that starts with a nature walk, collecting leaves, observing bark and just paying attention to all the details that make different trees unique. You can take rubbings, photos or draw or write down your observations in a nature book. If you have a nature corner or science center you can gather leaves, twigs, acorns, etc. and observe them at home, too.

You can also make a guide to the trees in your yard, playground, neighborhood or local park with this cute idea from Kid World Citizen. Kids can take a leaf and a rubbing of the bark to identify each tree. You could also take photos or draw a map of each tree’s location.

When the leaves start changing is the perfect time to do a lesson on why leaves change color. You can get all the details from STEAM Powered Family, which has a lot of details on different experiments they did and how they worked so you’ll know just what to do when you try it yourself.

Learn the difference between deciduous and coniferous tress with help from Capri Plus 3, and learn all about tree rings and the age of trees from KC Edventures.

Younger kids can observe changes in leaves (this uses fall leaves but you could do it any time) with this easy project from Preschool Toolkit.

Make your own trees to decorate the classroom with this easy paper bag craft from Crafts by Amanda. This would be a fun one to try at different times of year. How would you decorate a spring tree? How about a winter tree?

Or you can make your own trees with this printable tree outline from Crafts on Sea, or practice counting by decorating trees with fingerprint leaves with this activity from Fun Handprint Art Blog.

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Easy Lacing Cards to Make for Kids

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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