Materials:

Nature journal, drawing utensils of choice, and a tree you can easily remember and return to.

Activity:

Go to the tree you have chosen to watch throughout the year and open your nature journal to the “Adopt a tree” section. It can be a tree in your yard, at a park, or other favorite nature study location. Draw it in your nature journal. What does it look like? Are there fruit or seeds? Have the leaves changed color? Are the leaves still on the tree?

Younger:

Have young kids tell you what they notice, draw a basic trunk, and had them add the colors they see above it.

Older:

Encourage older kids to do a basic outline of the tree then another section that shows a close-up of the leaves, fruit, or seed pods in detail. Encourage them to write down at least one question from what they observed today.

Take it Further:

Do a mini-lesson on different ways that trees go to seed and the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees. Look at pine cones, maple “helicopters”, chestnuts, oak caps, and pine pods, and other seeds. Review the seed dispersal lesson from summer as more plants go to seed in the fall, paying special attention to trees. Add the seeds to your collection. Is your tree a deciduous tree or a coniferous tree? How does it go to seed? Compare your tree to how it looked in the spring and summer. What changes do you expect this winter? If you haven’t already, try to identify your tree.

Below you will find leaf/seed cards from Tanglewood Hollow that will help you identify North American trees by their seeds, a complete seed bundle by HoneyComb Cabin that talks about types of seeds as well as their dispersal, and a fun cut and paste worksheet about the differences between deciduous and coniferous trees.