I didn’t really expect our alphabet series to be full of exploring natural elements, but I like to follow the kids’ lead. It’s a great 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 science investigations, literacy and math activities, book-related projects, and many terrific crafts and paintings 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
Get a full week of tree theme lesson plans for
Home Preschool or your Preschool Classroom.
Explore Trees
Document the Changing of Seasons in Pictures (Mama Smiles)
Go On a Tree Hunt (KC Edventures)
Explore the Texture of Bark (Freshly Planted)
Lay a Sheet and Shake a Tree (Wildlife Fun 4 Kids)
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 Activities
Pine Cones and Tree Branches (Fun-A-Day)
Pine Needle Discovery Bottles (Teach Preschool)
Tree Crafts
Paper Bag Tree Sculptures (Draw the Line At)
Autumn Trees Made with Real Leaves (Housing a Forest)
Tree Suncatcher (Mess for Less)
The Four Seasons Tree Crafts (Red Ted Art)
Mixed Media Forest Collage (Mum Paints Lives)
Tree Paintings
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)
Counting Sticks (Montessori on a Budget)
Learning Activities with Sticks (Mummy Mummy Mum)
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.
The Happiness Tree: Celebrating the Gifts of Trees We Treasure
This is the Tree: A Story of the Baobab
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)
Review of The Tree, a science and history book about a tree in New York City (Storied Cities Books)
StickFiggy Friendship Activities and Tree Play Area (JDaniel 4’s Mom)
Trees, Leaves, and Bark Synopsis and Free Printables (The Wise Owl Factory Book a Day)
Hand Print Trees (Reading Confetti)
Preschool Activities and Books on Trees (Mud Hut Mama)
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.
This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) Uppercase and Lowercase Alphabet Matching Tree Activity
2) Colorful Trees Sorting Mats
3) Tree Color Word Building Mats
4) Tree Addition Game
5) Tree Beginning Sound Sort (for sounds /t/, /r/, and short /e/)
6) Tree Dice Game
7) Uppercase Tree Alphabet Cards
8) Lowercase Fruits, Seeds, and Flowers Alphabet Cards
9) 0-35 Tree Number Cards
10) Shape Cards (for hands-on shape activities)
11) Tree Word Family Sort (for -an, -op, -it, and -ug)
Get Your Lesson Plans
Home Preschool Tree Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Tree Theme Lesson Plans
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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Thank your for finding all these opportunities for outdoor learning, the best kind of active learning. Very nice!
Thank you so much, Carolyn! I agree. Outdoor learning is so beneficial!
We just made neighborhood tree guides to learn about trees in our area: http://kidworldcitizen.org/2013/04/21/make-a-neighborhood-tree-guide/ It was so fun!
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.
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 =)
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!
AMAZING collection of resources, thank you so much! I love the tree made out of trains, brilliant! Can’t wait to try some of these ideas.
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!
I love the way you bring the learning from outside inside. Just popping over from It’s Playtime
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!
This is a great collection of ideas. I love anything that gets everyone outside!
I would love it if you would come link up on our Artsy Play Wednesday linky.
http://www.babygiveawaysgalore.com/2013/04/artsy-play-wednesday-kids-craft-linky_24.html
Thank you! We always enjoy getting outside, too!!
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.
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!
If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll link this to Look What We Did. I am picking posts from there to create an earth day feature and this would be a great addition. Love your lists-of-ways to enjoy the outdoors! -Savannah http://www.hammocktracks.com/buttons/
Thanks for the reminder, Savannah! I bet you’ll have a great collection of activities.
Thanks for including my tree!
You’re very welcome! We actually made a whole forest of your trees…the kids loved it!
Aww! Yeah! Very exciting! P.S. You can also make spring trees the same way. Just switch up the colors and they will be bursting with blooms.
Great tip!
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!
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!
Great ideas! Thanks for including us!
Thanks so much for including our tree hunt! What a wonderful round-up – pinning and sharing for Arbor Day 🙂
Your tree hunt was perfect for this! Glad to include it in the round-up.
Thank you for including our preschool tree activities! I’m looking forward to checking out these links – there are some wonderful ideas here.
I’m happy to include your activities. Hope you enjoy checking out the other links…there really are some fabulous ideas!
Great round up! Thanks for including my little snack. 😉
Thanks! I love any snack the kids can enjoy creating on their own…yours was perfectly simple!
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.
Your ideas were terrific. I know my girls would especially enjoy the tree sensory play. Thanks for pinning!
This is a wonderful collection of resources, ideas, crafts, and lessons. Thank you so much for compiling all this. Pinned!
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!
What a great collection of unique way to learn about trees. Thanks for including our spring and autumn trees!
I love your spring and autumn trees. I was glad to include them in this list.