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Autumn is a great time to explore trees: it’s not just about leaves changing colour – you can observe a tree’s silhouette emerge as its leaves fall, birds’ nests, mistletoe and berries can be spotted in the branches, and twigs that snap off in autumn gales are perfect kindling for bonfire night, once dried out.
1 TREE DRESSING
Tree Dressing Day takes place in the first week of December, so plan now. Take the children on a walk around the garden or your neighbourhood, and choose a special tree, using the opportunity to introduce scientific and mathematical words.
Tree decorating can be as simple as you like: from lengths of fabric or ribbons tied to the branches, to beads, cones or messages on the tree. Many different cultures celebrate autumn and winter by decorating trees, but in the UK, the charity Common Ground introduced the day to help us celebrate important trees in our communities.
See: www.commonground.org.uk/tree-dressing-day
2 TREE IDS
Identifying trees in autumn and winter can be tricky, since most ID charts show leaves and tree silhouettes as they are during early summer. However, Nature Detectives has a downloadable Winter twig ID chart, and the actual shape of the tree becomes much more apparent when it is unclothed by leaves. Some tree books and posters also include the winter silhouette, so it is worth checking your local library before setting out.
Take magnifying glasses and loupes (tiny magnifiers) to inspect the autumn tree up close. What do children notice about its bark? The texture of the leaves? The smell of the tree? What will happen to all the fallen leaves? Why do some trees appear to keep their leaves all year round? This is a trick question – they don’t! Instead, they actually shed and grow their leaves, all year round.
Record the shape, colour and size of the trees in autumn and winter by taking photographs of them. In spring and summer, revisit the trees so children can compare these characteristics.
See: www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/wintertreeID_info.pdf
3 MANDALAS
Scavenging around the base of trees can provide rich pickings for outdoor art, and Pinterest is full of inspiration for ways to use leaves, cones, bark, pine needles, nuts and their shells to produce beautiful, temporary artworks. For example:
Make mandalas – circular symbols – using leaves of similar or contrasting shades. They could be huge…
Create a rainbow – can you find leaves for every colour in the rainbow? Even in autumn, there are brightly coloured leaves.
Slice a leaf in half down the stalk, attach to a piece of paper and draw the other half, matching colours as closely as possible.
Collect tiny objects from around the base of trees, using scallop shells to limit the size of the items picked up. Compare the found items: match similar items, line them up from largest to smallest, make a tally chart showing frequency of collection, identify patterns.
See: http://naturedetectives.woodlandtrust.org.uk/naturedetectives
4 PLAY IN THE TREES
On a dry day, bare trees are excellent for climbing up because children – and supervising adults – can identify where the next safe move will be. It’s also much easier to attach a rope or tyre swing to a leafless tree – test it with your own bodyweight before allowing children to use it. Lift logs to explore minibeasts living under them. Make bark rubbings. Source timber pallets (check for splinters) and use them to create a fort or a stage under a tree. Swish through the fallen leaves. Build a tree-house!
5 PLANT A TREE
The Woodland Trust donates tree packs to settings. Apply now for delivery of trees in March, or in November next year. The packs are themed and are plentiful, so you could share a pack with another setting. The trees are tiny (known as whips) so perfectly sized for young children to plant. Label each tree with its owner’s name and set reminders to water and mulch around their bases, to give them the best possible chance of survival.
See: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/schools-and-communities and http://treetoolsforschools.org.uk/menu
