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Tree Activities for Kids

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There are so many fun ways to learn about trees for kids. I didn’t really expect  our alphabet series to be full of exploring natural elements, but I like to follow the kids’ lead. Learning about trees also gives us some extra time to be outdoors and learn more about the world around us, so we’re seizing the opportunity.

For the letter T we learned about trees. Today I’m sharing some of the many tree-inspired activities around the web.  There are ideas for tree science investigations, literacy and math activities, book-related projects, and many terrific tree craft projects and tree art ideas to help you put together your own tree activities for the kids in your life. Some of the posts are seasonal, but they can often be adapted easily to meet your needs. I hope you enjoy reading all of these posts as much as I did!

Tree Activities for Kids

Tree Activities for Kids-Hands-on ways to learn about trees for kids. Includes tree science activities, tree crafts, tree art ideas, and more for your tree theme.

Get a full week of tree theme lesson plans for 

Home Preschool or your Preschool Classroom.

Preschool Tree Theme Activities for Kids

Don’t miss our comprehensive tree theme resource guide. It’s full of even more tree theme activities for kids.

Explore Trees with Tree Science Activities 

Document the Changing of Seasons in Pictures (Mama Smiles)

Go On a Tree Hunt (KC Edventures)

Explore the Texture of Bark (Freshly Planted)

Collect and Examine Flowers and Seed Pods from Trees (Teach Beside Me)

Collect and Sort Different Parts of Trees (Inspiration Laboratories)

Look Closely on New Buds on Trees (Mama Smiles)

Learn About Trees and the Weather with Pine Cones (Science Sparks)

Learn How Leaves Get Water, along with other wonderful leaf activities (Train Up a Child: Learn As We Go)

Learn through Action with Leaf Pounding (Not Just Cute)

Observe and Record the Changing of Seasons with Hand Print Trees (Stay at Home Educator)

Learn How Old a Tree Is (Life at the Zoo)

Make a Neighborhood Tree Guide (Kid World Citizen)

Sensory Tree Activities

Pine Cones and Tree Branches (Fun-A-Day) 

Pine Needle Discovery Bottles (Teach Preschool)

Spring Tree Play Dough (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Tree Craft Activities

Tree Craft for Spring

Spring Tree Art Project (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Fall Art for Kids-Crumpled Paper Tree Craft Fall Tree Art (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

The Four Seasons Tree Crafts (Red Ted Art)

Paper Bag Tree Sculptures (Draw the Line At)

Autumn Trees Made with Real Leaves (Housing a Forest)

Bleeding Tissue Paper Fall Tree Craft (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Fall Tree Loofah Painting (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Stamp Painted Fall Tree (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Winter Tree Craft Project (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Tree Art Ideas

The Tree of Life Kids Art (Here Come the Girls)

Painting with the Parts of a Tree (Fun-A-Day) 

Fingerprint Spring Tree (Housing a Forest)

Q-Tip Fall Tree (Mess for Less)

Fall Fingerprint Tree (Mess for Less)

Spring Cherry Tree (Housing a Forest)

Painting Trees with Egg Cartons (Teach Preschool)

Four Seasons Tree Painting with Free Printable (123 Homeschool 4 Me) 

Yarn Stamped Fall Tree (No Time for Flashcards)

Puzzle Piece Tree (I Heart Crafty Things)

Tree-Inspired Play Activities

Learning About Trees with Wooden Train Tracks (Play Trains)

Cardboard Tree House (Spoonful)

Tree Decorating (Red Ted Art)

Learning Activities

Alphabet Apple Tree Letter Activity (No Time for Flashcards)

Letter T Craft (Counting Coconuts)

Make Your Own Tree Memory Game (Kitchen Counter Chronicle)

square-spring tree math

Free Printable Tree Math (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Counting Sticks (Montessori on a Budget)

Books About Trees

We have a full list of book recommendations that includes both fiction and nonfiction books about trees, but here is a quick reference list.

A Tree for Emmy

The Searcher and Old Tree

We Planted a Tree

Who Will Plant a Tree?

This Tree Counts!

The Family Tree

Gus is a Tree

The Happiness Tree: Celebrating the Gifts of Trees We Treasure

This is the Tree: A Story of the Baobab

The Giving Tree

Our Tree Named Steve

Head over to the trees book list to read the book summaries and learn more about each book.

Book-Related Activities

Lorax Tree Snack (East Coast Mommy)

Apple Tree Paper Plate Craft (Reading Confetti)

There is a Tree Book Synopsis and Free Journal Printable (The Wise Owl Factory Book a Day)

StickFiggy Friendship Activities and Tree Play Area (JDaniel 4’s Mom)

Hand Print Trees (Reading Confetti)

Get a Full Week of Tree Theme Learning and Play

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

Explore the signs and symbols of fall with hands-on activities and fully developed fall theme lesson plans. Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:

This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) Uppercase and Lowercase Alphabet Matching Tree Activity (in color and b/w)

2) Colorful Trees Sorting Mats (in color and b/w)

3) Tree Color Word Building Mats (in color and b/w)

4) Tree Addition Game (in color and b/w)

5) Tree Beginning Sound Sort (for sounds /t/, /r/, and short /e/) (in color and b/w)

6) Tree Dice Game (in color and b/w)

7) Uppercase Tree Alphabet Cards (in color and b/w)

8) Lowercase Fruits, Seeds, and Flowers Alphabet Cards (in color and b/w)

9) 0-35 Tree Number Cards (in color and b/w)

10) Shape Cards (for hands-on shape activities)

11) Tree Word Family Sort (for -an, -op, -it, and -ug) (in color and b/w)

12) Real Tree Photographs (with and without labels)

13) Parts of a Tree Diagram and Labels

14) Twig Shape Prompt Cards

Get Your Lesson Plans

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

45 Playful Ways to Teach Young Kids About Trees-Full of tree activities and fun projects for kids learning about trees

The next post in our T is for Trees series will include some of our favorite books about trees.

Do you have any other ideas or activities related to trees? I would love for you to share them in the comments.

Find more ideas for learning about trees on my Letter T Pinterest Board.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MAHA

    What a wonderful resource regarding learning about trees. Thanks so much for including my tree sensory play and painting with nature posts! 🙂 I’m going to pin this shortly.

    Reply

  2. Marria

    wow! so clever though. a simple way for kids fun. I just love this idea. Such a creative thought. kids must love this idea. Thanks for such a good idea to share with us.

    Reply

    • Shaunna

      I love that idea! Great advice to get out and study the environment right there are around us! Thanks for sharing. I hope you don’t mind that I’m adding it to the text of the post so others are sure to see it, too.

      Reply

  5. Beth

    What a GREAT round-up! i added to my buffer to share on social media this upcoming week =)

    Thanks for linking up to TGIF! I always enjoy seeing what you’ve come up with! Hope to see you linked up again tomorrow!

    Have a great day,
    Beth =)

    Reply

    • Shaunna

      Thanks, Beth! It was a lot of fun to put together. I love when I can include so many different kinds of activities and learning opportunities for our themes, and the kids do, too! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply

    • Shaunna

      Thanks, Jana! I had a lot of fun putting this resource list together. I’m so glad you found it helpful, and I hope you do get to try out some of the ideas soon!

      Reply

    • Shaunna

      Thanks! I try to integrate as many different learning opportunities into our themes as possible, and there were so many different ways to do so with the tree theme. Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

  9. Penny

    This is such an amazing list and now that I have a whole bunch of trees right at our backyard (we moved right in front of a nature reserve), I’ll be using this list often.

    Oh and thanks so much for adding the Lay a Sheet and Shake a Tree post to the list. I feel honored to be added.

    Reply

    • Shaunna

      That sounds wonderful!! We are on a preserve, but there’s a big fence that keeps us from exploring. We do get to see some animals and a lot of birds, but it’s not the same as getting to venture into the woods. I’m glad you enjoyed the list, and I loved including your idea. Thanks!

      Reply

  12. Cassidy @ Freshly Planted

    What a wonderful list! We love trees, hugging them is a daily pastime around here, and I look forward to us exploring them more through these great ideas. Thank you so much for including ours!

    Reply

    • Shaunna

      We had fun learning more about the trees around us through this T is for Trees theme. I hope you have fun using some of these ideas!

      Reply

  14. Jacquie@KCEdventures

    Thanks so much for including our tree hunt! What a wonderful round-up – pinning and sharing for Arbor Day 🙂

    Reply

    • Shaunna

      I’m happy to include your activities. Hope you enjoy checking out the other links…there really are some fabulous ideas!

      Reply

  17. Mary Catherine

    What a wonderful resource regarding learning about trees. Thanks so much for including my tree sensory play and painting with nature posts! 🙂 I’m going to pin this shortly.

    Reply

    • Shaunna

      Thank you!! I know as a teacher I would have loved to stumble across a large collection of ideas on the topic I was researching. I hope this list is helpful!

      Reply

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