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TREE ART (Art)
Invite your children to try one or both of the following activities.
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Evergreen Painting: Let the children use evergreen sprigs as brushes to paint green tempera paint designs on paper. |
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Bark Rubbings: Have the children place thin paper against tree trunks. Show them how to make rubbings by coloring on the paper with the sides of peeled crayons.
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FOREST PICTURES (Art)
Give your children pieces of light blue construction paper along with various sizes of triangles cut from green paper. Have them glue the triangles on their papers to represent trees in a forest and to add details with crayons or markers. Let them create a floor for their forests by gluing on such materials as dry moss, twigs, and small pebbles. To complete, give the children several forest animal stickers to add to their pictures.
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FOREST MATCHING GAME (Matching)
Use a gardening book to find five or more pictures of trees commonly found in forests. Make two photocopies of each tree, cut out the pictures, and glue them onto individual index cards. Lay out one tree card from each pair on a table and place the other cards in a pile. Then invite your children to search through the pile to find the tree cards that match those on the table.
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FOREST ANIMALS (Science/Number Recognition)
Using picture books about the forest, talk with your group about some of the animals that commonly live there, such as squirrels, deer, bears, raccoons, and owls. Then try the activity below.
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Forest Animal Books: Make a book for each child by stapling five white paper pages together with a colored paper cover. Title each book “Forest Animals” and add the child’s name. Number each book’s pages from 1 to 5. Set out nontoxic, washable inkpads and forest animal rubber stamps. Then show the children how to read the numeral on each book page and use the stamps to make that many forest animal prints on the page. |
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FOREST CONSERVATION (Science)
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Talk about how recycling and reusing paper can help conserve our forests. Set out one box for collecting scrap paper to take to a recycling center. Also set out another box for holding paper that has been used on just one side. Encourage your children to use the blank sides for art and writing projects. |
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Another way we can conserve our forests is to help prevent forest fires. Check the Smokey Bear website for information about Smokey and his motto, “Only you can prevent forest fires,” to share with your group.
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APPRECIATING TREES (Science)
Take your children on a walk through a forest or wooded area. Discuss such things as what the forest looks and sounds like, what animals can be seen, and what it feels like to walk through the trees. Later, make a plan with the children to plant a tree seedling in an appropriate area. Purchase a seedling from a local nursery, or contact the Arbor Day Foundation online for seedling information. Can the children imagine what their tree may be like when it’s full grown?
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Additional Tree activities can be found at the
Theme Station - Trees
Holiday Station - Arbor Day
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ISAAC WENT INTO THE FOREST (Music)
Tune: “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”
Isaac went into the forest,
Isaac went into the forest,
Isaac went into the forest
To see what he could see.
He saw a big black bear,
He saw a big black bear,
He saw a big black bear
Hiding behind a tree.
Bella went into the forest,
Bella went into the forest,
Bella went into the forest
To see what she could see.
She saw a feathery owl,
She saw a feathery owl,
She saw a feathery owl
Up in a tall pine tree.
Heather McPhail
Continue with similar verses for each of your children. For instance: “He saw a little squirrel running around a tree; She saw a big raccoon scampering up a tree;” and so on.
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FOREST SNACKS (Food Preparation)
Talk with your group about the kinds of foods we get from the forest, such as nuts, berries, and mushrooms. Then try one or more of these snacks: Have the children sprinkle pine nuts over small green salads topped with a favorite dressing; Or let them add spoonfuls of blueberries or blackberries to bowls of cereal; Or let them help make little mushroom pizzas, using English muffins as crusts.
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