Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children

Nature Activities for Young Children

Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children is PLT’s latest resource for families and teachers of ages 1-6. Trees & Me contains hundreds of ideas for fun, easy-to-do, hands-on experiences to connect young children to nature, with a focus on trees and forests. Through both outdoor and indoor activities, children explore nature through their senses, experience trees throughout all four seasons, and connect with their community.

Hands-On Learning Experiences

The 12 hands-on Trees & Me activities are designed for families and teachers to use with children ages 1–6 in a range of settings, including preschools, childcare centers, and nature centers, at home, or with families and friends spending time together. Special instructions tailor many experiences to children under 3 years of age.

• Each activity suggests topic-related nonfiction and fiction children’s books.
• Explore Careers invite children to explore a green job that fits an activity’s theme.
• Art is integrated throughout, and STEM exemplars effectively integrate the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math to provide opportunities for young children to practice STEM skills.
• Free, downloadable music selections support the activities and experiences in the guide.
• Each activity suggests concrete ways that families and friends can enhance the learning experience at home, including helping out in the community.

The guide also provides valuable appendices, such as tested techniques for engaging early learners, tips for outdoor learning, bringing nature inside, and woodworking, that not only support the activities, but can serve as a resource in a range of situations.

Intended audiences

Trees & Me is designed to provide opportunities for young children to experience nature, with a particular focus on trees. It is an open invitation to increase the quantity and quality of nature experiences with the children in your care. This resource is designed for the following audiences:

• Families and Caregivers
• Childcare Providers
• PreK–1 Classroom Educators
• Nonformal Educators
• University Faculty in Early Childhood Development

The activities are easily adaptable to meet each child’s unique needs, the environment where they live, and the materials available.

Sample activity: Home Tweet Home

Through fun, indoor and outdoor activities, toddlers and preschoolers explore nature through their senses, experience trees throughout the seasons, and connect with their community.

Download “Home Tweet Home” sample activity

Social and Academic Skills Development

Children learn concepts necessary to succeed in school, including age-appropriate literacy, math, and critical thinking skills. They make music, create things, and gain physical dexterity. They are empowered to work independently and in groups. Through dramatic play and skill practice, they explore careers which plants ideas for a child’s future.

What’s more, research indicates that early exposure to nature and the outdoors improves emotional and physical well-being, enhances learning, promotes positive social behavior, and makes children more likely to care about their environment throughout their lives.

Award Winning!

Trees & Me was awarded the 2022 Academics’ Choice Smart Book Award in recognition of Mind-Building Excellence.

Activities

Exploring Nature with the Senses

• Activity 1: The Shape of Things — Children search for the shapes and colors that define both our natural and built environments.
• Activity 2: Sounds Around — Children explore the sounds of nature and imitate them using their own voices and instruments that they make together.
• Activity 3: Tree Textures — Children explore trees and their parts using the sense of touch.
• Activity 4: Follow Your Nose — Children explore trees and tree parts using their senses of smell and taste.

Experiencing Trees through Seasons

• Activity 5: Fall for Trees — Children explore the signs of autumn and play with falling, changing, and dancing leaves.
• Activity 6: Evergreens in Winter — Children explore evergreen trees—and the season of winter—using their senses.
• Activity 7: Best Buds — Children explore twigs, buds, and tree flowers while they celebrate the coming of spring.
• Activity 8: My Tree and Me — Children compare trees and identify distinguishing features.

Meeting Neighborhood Trees

• Activity 9: Parts to Play — Children make a tree costume and explore the parts of a tree.
• Activity 10: Home Tweet Home — Children discover how plants and animals depend on trees.
• Activity 11: Community Explorers — Children explore how their community—and the trees within it—provide things people need.
• Activity 12: Three Cheers for Trees — Children explore the many products and benefits that trees provide.

See the “Activities” tab above for further details.

Learning Standards for Young Children

Each activity makes explicit connections with early learning standards in science, English language arts, math, and social studies, as well as the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Head Start.

Login to download supporting materials such as appendices and teaching tips.