Tu B'Shevat Theme: A Walk in the Park

Looking to see if anyone lives inside that hollowed out tree root!

Everyone needs a day to just walk in the park, and for us, yesterday was that day! We had amazing weather (sandwiched between several days of less than amazing weather). Having just learned about the parts of a tree, we grabbed a basket, a backpack, some snacks and headed to a nearby park. We decided while we were there, we would go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt to collect as many parts of a tree as we could find on the ground. My son was so excited to carrying his own basket to collect his treasures. Some parks are protected and therefore have regulations about anything being removed. If that is the case, drawing pictures of your findings, taking photos, writing/dictating about them or even bringing along a journal or printout of a scavenger hunt list can be a great alternative method of preserving your collections. In fact, this webpage offers over 30 free printable scavenger hunts to use in nature or on outings with your kids! You may even be fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood (or with a yard) that has accessible trees or wooded areas.  I do think taking a nature scavenger hunt is a great opportunity to talk about what types of things are OK to take from their natural environment, what types of things might be unsafe and what we must leave in nature because it is still growing! If you feel your child's collection is getting a little too large, it can also be a great opportunity to teach about taking only what we can use and preserving the rest for others to benefit. You can talk about the animals and bugs that benefit from natural items on the ground and how they help the soil that, in turn, helps the trees to grow. Another method we like for nature collections is using masking tape around the wrist, sticky side out as a bracelet. Little hands can collect leaves (as in the photo above), flowers or other small, flat and lightweight items to stick on to their bracelets. You can even laminate or cover them with contact paper once you return home to create a lovely bookmark. 

We had a great time walking, observing and collecting. My son was totally amazed at seeing a tree so large and old that its roots had burst through the ground's surface. He got up close and personal with one hollowed out root and I wondered with him if any animals might be living inside. He confirmed that nobody was home! 

He had fun searching for leaves, pine needles, twigs and sticks, bits of bark, acorns, horse chestnuts, and pine cones. We made sure to take a break for playing on the playground, too--that's pretty important business, after all! He was good and tuckered out by the time we returned home for supper and had just enough energy to take out his Chicka Chicka Boom Boom magnetic coconut tree and work with his letter magnets. We had fun making up our own version of the rhythmic story using the letter names of magnets he chose. I also showed him how to create his name and if he happened to end up with a word on the tree, I showed him that as well!

We have big plans for what we brought home in our basket today. Our Table Time activity this morning is already set out and waiting. I printed this wonderful booklet to draw/write about and collect parts of trees for free from a fellow teacher via the teacherspayteachers.com website. We had actually packed it along on our park trip with a travel pouch of colored pencils but never made it around to using it while we were there. It would be a wonderful material to accompany a nature walk or park visit, however. 

I'm looking forward to seeing some of these natural materials turned into lovely works of art as our unit continues. They are great for observation and exploration in and of themselves and there is a great deal of sensory play that can also happen with treasures found in nature. In the past, I have even used such things to create DIY learning activities, like this one (geared toward 4-5 year old children). I may create a simpler version for my toddler to work on one-to-one correspondence. 

 To create your own version of this Tu B'Shevat themed addition activity, you will need:

• a collection of twigs, about the same length (not too much taller than a toilet paper tube)
• a collection of recycled toilet paper tubes
• a black marker
• number cards (here, I used Montessori sand numbers, but you can print off, write or use any type of flash card as well)

I cut one toilet paper tube in half and wrote a + sign and an = sign. On the remaining tubes, I wrote numerals 1 through 5. You can decide how many tubes you'd like to prepare and prepare accordingly. I also added dots to visually represent each number. To play the game, the child places the corresponding number of twigs in each tube and adds them together to arrive at the sum. He/she then places to appropriate number card in the sum space.

Whether you're enjoying a walk in the park or the weather has you huddled up indoors, I wish you all happy playing and many opportunities to explore the natural world!