A celebration of trees

INSPIRATION CORNER

Alliance policy and standards manager Melanie Pilcher celebrates International Day of Forests with some tree-ly wonderful outdoor activities to inspire and enthuse little ones

Melanie is responsible for resources that support best practice in all matters relating to the EYFS.

“A woodland in full colour is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart.” - Hal Borland, author.

In 2012, the United Nations designated 21 March as the International Day of Forests to celebrate “one of our greatest natural treasures that we must preserve and protect”. And though a few of us may well have a forest on our doorsteps, you don’t need a whole forest to celebrate trees.

Spring is the perfect time of year to ignite children’s interest and hopefully inspire a love of trees that will last a lifetime.

Trees are amazing!

Individually, trees are astounding things but, as a collective forest or wood, they’re incredible – the only difference is the amount of land they cover.

Forests are home to more than half of the world’s species of animals, plants, and insects. They help to combat climate change and lessen the impact of storms and flooding. They help to purify water by filtering out harmful chemicals and pollution and produce rich topsoil that is vital to the production of plants and crops. Every tree matters, so regardless of whether you have a single tree in your garden, a small wood nearby, or an expanse of trees to explore, you can join in with the celebrations so that every child grows up to value this precious resource every single day.

Three tree facts to inspire you:

One of the oldest species of tree, the Ginkgo biloba (maidenhair tree), dates to when dinosaurs roamed the Earth between 245 and 66 million years ago. Fossils of Ginkgo leaves have been discovered that date back 200 million years.

Imagine pointing out a tree to a group of children that is the same as one a ‘real’ dinosaur might have walked past! Ginkgo trees are popular garden trees that can be bought from most garden centres as saplings. Their leaves are particularly beautiful; they are fan shaped and turn yellow in autumn, giving plenty of opportunities for creative collage.

Magnolias were among the first flowering trees to evolve on Earth around 100 million years ago.

Magnolias are common ornamental garden trees and are in flower now. The flowers are particularly showy as they tend to appear before

the leaves. Young children will enjoy the feel of the petals and wonder why they are so thick and waxy. They evolved this way to protect themselves from prehistoric insects that fed on them. Some of the insects were bigger than the birds of today – just think where that nugget of information could take a child’s imagination.

If you have access to a magnolia tree, look out for the velvety bracts that have dropped beneath the tree. These were the protective covering of the flower buds that break apart as the flowers emerge; they are velvety in texture and extremely tactile for little fingers to explore. They look very much like mice on the ground – will the children notice that?

There are more than 60,000 species of tree, all of which fall into two main categories: deciduous trees that lose their leaves at specific times of the year, and evergreen trees that keep their leaves all year. Meanwhile, there are dozens of leaf shapes with intriguing names to describe.

On a walk, see how many different trees you can spot together. Look for the size and shape of the leaves. Introduce new vocabulary – for example, some leaves such as Japanese maples are shaped like our hands with fingers outstretched, this shape is described as palmate – like the palms of our hands. Palmate is a new word to learn along with a prompt for remembering it.

The hierarchy of trees

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory is based on the idea that our basic needs must be met before we can progress to more complex needs. This hierarchy places physiological needs at the bottom of a pyramid, followed by safety, belongingness and love, esteem and, lastly, self-actualisation.

Now consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in terms of everything that trees give us, and the ideas for learning opportunities become endless!

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