Parenting Tips: Scientists Walking

Fall is all around me today and here in Maine that means that the woods are changing every day.  Whether you live in a region with changing leaves or palm trees, sidewalks or fields, take your children on a walk to a tree and teach your child to REALLY see.  Children and parents don't need to know all the scientific terms and labels to make scientific discoveries in a tree.  Try these tree activities comparing trees or even just observing one with a tree in the woods, a park, or a backyard. Your children will be stretching their mental muscles and having fun at the same time!

LEAVES:
Shape- oval, fingered, round, or narrow.  Edges- smooth, saw-toothed, jagged, shallow or deep "lobes". Veins- a rows or branching out. Joints [stem to branch]- single leaf or clusters of how many. Condition- solid, lacy, mixed. "Visitors"- leaf miners [winding trails on the leaf], bumps [insect eggs], cobwebs.

NEEDLES:
Shape- flat or round. Joints [needle to branch]-single need or clusters of how many, pattern or random. Color- solid, striped, same or different on front and back. Cones- visible, size, shape, closed, open.

TRUNK:
single, central, or branching. Bark- color, texture, smooth or sectioned. Hitchhikers- on, under, [mushrooms, fungus,lichen]. Invaders- holes [from birds or bugs?], bark scars [blackened lumps, "scabs" over broken or cut spots], holes around base or in base.

FAMILY:
tree stands alone, "babies" under branches, variety of ages nearby, natural, planted

GROUND:
spongy, hard, needles, leaves, moss. ferns. flowers, grasses, landscaping, natural

Don't forget to teach your kids the value of leaving nature undisturbed.  Don't pick leaves, needles, bark off the tree. Use what has fallen, or draw, or photo "specimens." Some kids may even want to start a science tree journal or a collection.  Remind them that what they did is what adult scientists do when they are observing and categorizing plants and trees of all kinds.

P.S.  Consider visiting the same tree again at a different time of year and compare the two observations.  Have fun!


Image credit: rtoddking.com