trees Archives

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Witch Hazel Tree Study

Inside Preparation Work:

Read the section in the Handbook of Nature Study on Witch Hazel found on pages 686-689(Lesson 190).
Find out if you have Witch Hazel as a native plant in your area by viewing this map: USDA Witch Hazel
Here is a video to help you identify a Witch Hazel in autumn Youtube video: Fall Blooming Witch Hazel
Here is an image of the seeds of a Witch Hazel. This blog entry has some amazing images of the Witch Hazel.
Advanced Study: Read these online articles for more in-depth information about the Witch Hazel: Witch Hazel and Witch Hazel.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Use your outdoor time this week to look at fall trees, looking in particular for the yellow strap-like flowers and nuts of the Witch Hazel. It might be fun to also include a Fall Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt using this printable from Hearts and Trees.
Take along your nature journals to sketch the Witch Hazel flower into your nature journal.
Advanced students: Make sure to look for the Witch Hazel nuts and find the seeds if possible. If possible, collect a few of the nuts to take home to discover just how far the seeds will fly once the nut opens up.

Follow-Up Activity:

Create a nature journal entry all about the Witch Hazel. Here are some things to include (or you can use the notebook page in the ebook:

Color and texture of the bark
Leaves, if any are present, noting the color.
Flower (see page 688 in the Handbook of Nature Study for a nice diagram of the flower)
Date of your observations and the location
Draw the Witch Hazel nut. Write how you think the seeds are thrown so far from the tree.

Advanced Study: Complete the notebooking page in the ebook using a field guide or the internet resources above.

Join us for this series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study. If you want to purchase the Autumn Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Autumn Nature Study Continues content list on the announcement page.

You can also submit any Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entry from October to the next edition of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival by sending the link directly to me by 10/29/14. Harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

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Posted on October 3, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Ash Tree Nature Study

Inside Preparation Work:

Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 658-661 (Lesson #181). The lesson suggests starting an ash tree study in the fall and continuing it in the spring. Choose a few activities from the lesson to complete when you identify your ash tree.
Learn about tree bark: Parts of a Tree.
How to Identify an Ash: http://youtu.be/2CE3zvSuZqE

Outdoor Hour Time:

Use your outdoor time this week to take a closer look at tree bark. If you have an ash tree in your yard or local area, make sure to notice the particular look of the bark.
You can also look at the ash tree’s seeds using the suggested observations from the lesson (#3).
Take a rubbing of a tree’s bark or sketch it in your nature journal.
Advanced study: Compare the bark of three trees. Use your senses: sight, touch, smell.

Follow-Up Activity:

Discuss the role of the tree’s bark as a means of protection. Afterwards, create a journal entry for one of the trees you observed during your outdoor time. You can use either one of the notebook pages in the ebook if you wish. Younger children can use the Mountain ash coloring page or the White ash coloring page (included in the ebook).
Advanced study: Research the Emerald Ash Borer to learn how this insect is killing ash trees in the U.S. and Canada. Here are a few links to information on this invasive species: Woodpeckers Feeding an Emerald Ash Borers, Emerald Ash Borer, and a video Emerald Ash Borer.
There is also an advanced notebook page for older students to use (in the ebook).

Note this is an affiliate link to a product I love.

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Barb — 3 Comments

Handbook of Nature Study – October 2014 Newsletter

October 2014 – Fall Trees

Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.

The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately.

If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.

If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.

If you need to subscribe:

You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.

This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of October so be sure to download it before 10/31/14.

Remember! All of the archived and current newsletters are available as part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library…every level! You may wish to download and use the October 2012 newsletter with additional autumn tree ideas and printables for your family.

Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:

3 fall tree related articles with loads of practical ideas
Tree book review
Nature journal idea tutorial
Nature Study Grid and Nature Journal Topper printable ideas
Coloring pages!
Spotlight Family – The Kordishes
Preschool nature table ideas and printables
Mom’s Planning Page: Use this printable page to plan your month’s nature study.

Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Barb — 11 Comments

Our Summer Tree – Mystery Continues

I am continuing our study of the mystery tree…our year-long tree study that we began in springtime. I am frustrated about its identity and have spent lots and lots of time scouring my field guides and the internet for just what kind of tree this is in our yard. I know it is not a native tree which only complicates matters.

Here is the leaf.

Here is the bark.

Not much to go on since it doesn’t currently have flowers, seeds, or pods.

I got excited when I found this tree, the Hardy Rubber tree. It looks like the right bark and leaf but the rubber tree doesn’t turn color in the fall like my mystery tree.

Here is a link to our spring entry: Our Spring Tree – Officially Starting a New Tree Study.

Something I recently learned about another tree in our yard, the tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). It is a host tree for swallowtail butterflies! I love that I have a great habitat for the caterpillars right in my front yard among my other butterfly, bird, and bee habitat. Read more about hunting for swallowtail caterpillars in this post over at Beautiful Wildlife Garden.

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Tree Fun

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Summer Tree or a Continuing Year-Long Tree Study

Use the ideas in this challenge from the archives (Summer Series 2010) to take a look at a tree in the summer season: Summer Tree Observations.

This challenge helps you use all of your senses to really get to know a tree in your yard or neighborhood.

Special Activity: Tree Projects

Four Seasons Photo Project – Use the ideas and printables in this challenge to start or continue your Four Seasons Photo Project.

A Year Long Tree Study – This post includes lots of tree study ideas for each season.

Getting Started Suggestion:

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #5. Take the opportunity this week/month to start a running list of trees in your local area. Keep a list in your nature journal or use the notebooking page in the ebook to get started with this long-term project (in the back of the ebook).

You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Entries for the current month are due on 6/29/14.

Please note this entry includes Amazon affiliate links.

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Our Spring Tree – Officially Starting a New Study

We have completed several year-long tree studies in the past, observing a particular tree in each season for a whole year. We haven’t had a tree for some time. I looked back and we started a study of the neighborhood cottonwood tree but never finished. Oops.

Oak Tree 2007-2008
Sweet Gum 2008-2009
Tulip Tree 2010-2011
Birch Tree 2011-2012
Cottonwood Tree – 2012-incomplete

Time for a fresh start and a new tree. We looked around our yard and realized that we have studied quite a few of those trees already. Hunting around, we found a new tree. We know the tree as the “birdfeeder tree” because it has always had our birdfeeder hanging from its branches. We don’t know what the name of the tree is officially so it is going to be a mystery tree until we complete the study.

You can see the Outdoor Hour Challenge Spring Tree entry to get started on your own tree study.

This is our tree looking from our back deck and between our house and the neighbor’s house. It is an awkward place to take a photo but you get the idea of the shape of the tree. You can see the Pittosporum plant on the right of the tree.

Here is a look at the branches from underneath. In the summer this tree shades the end of our deck where I have some chairs and a table. We spend many an afternoon and evening enjoying the shade given by our “birdfeeder tree”.

This is what is on the branches on this first day of spring. Wow! Look at all those tree parts. A few days ago, when the sun was shining on the tree, I could see it actually giving off little puffs of pollen into the breeze. I am sure this is the tree that is making pollen on the deck.

Here is another view of the flowers (fruits?) of this mystery tree. If anyone has any idea what this tree is from looking at the images in this entry, please leave me a comment or send me an email. I freely admit I don’t know all there is to know, or even a fraction of what there is to know, about trees even in my own backyard.

I added a photo and some notes to my page that I had prepared using the new Nature Journal Topper from the newsletter. Hopefully this will remind me to complete a summer study of our tree and perhaps be able to identify it when it has leaves.

Have you picked a tree to study for a year?

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Spring Tree Observations

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
Apple Trees in Spring –See some of the ideas below or click over to the original Outdoor Hour Challenge for more in-depth ideas for a study of an apple tree.

Suggested Observations for the Handbook of Nature Study, page 664 and 666
How tall is your tree?
How thick is its trunk?
What color is the bark?
Does the trunk divide into large branches or does it extend up through the center of the head?
Study the bud of the apple blossom.
Sketch an open apple blossom. How many petals? What is the shape of the flower?

Spring (Spring 2010 Ebook) You can use the ideas in this challenge to start or continue a year-long tree study of your choice.

You may also like to read this entry for additional simple ideas to get you started:
For the Love of Trees

Special Activity:

Four Seasons Tree Photo Project:
To accompany this challenge, print these notebook page for your nature journal and attach a photo of your tree in each season.

Four Seasons Tree Photo Project Notebook Page: One page for each season’s observations and a photo or sketch.

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10. I hope everyone is starting to see some signs of spring this week. Perhaps a simple picnic during the day during your tree study time might be nice. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your picnic time observations.

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Barb — 1 Comment

Ponderosa Pine Cone Study

We have been on the lookout for tree cones for the past few weeks (as part of the Winter Tree Cone Study) and picked the Ponderosa Pine as our subject for a tree cone study. There are many Ponderosa Pines in our neighborhood and they are easy to spot because of their size and trunk pattern. Our family has done a thorough tree study of the Ponderosa Pine in the past but this time we focused just on the cone.

Here is a close up of the cone showing it’s scale pattern and the sap too.

Here is a cone that the squirrels have taken apart to find the seeds hidden inside. This is a common sight along our local walking trail. It seems where there are Ponderosa Pines, there are squirrels.

I completed the tree cone observation page for my nature notebook. I included an image and some facts about the Ponderosa Pine cone. You can find the printable notebook page here: Winter Tree Cone Study.

Flexible scales
Egg shaped cone
Tipped with slender 1/8 inch prickles that can curve out
Seed is 3/8″ and the wing is 1″
Red and gray squirrels eat the seeds. California quail also eat the seeds.
Overall cone length is 3-6″

All information is from my Peterson Western Trees field guide.

You can read more about our Ponderosa Pine tree study here: Our Pine Tree Study.
We share more about our cone study here: Pines, Evergreens, Cones, and Needles.

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Winter Tree Cone Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Tree Cone Study

This week we are going to look at tree cones. Such a simple nature study that children love! Use the challenges listed below for ideas on getting started with your family’s cone study.

There are a couple challenges you can use for this nature study:
Winter Wednesday – Tree Cones from 2009
Pine Cones – Autumn #9 from 2010

You may also be interested in reading this entry from The Teachable Heart:
Autumn Series #9 – Pine Cones

Printable Notebook Page – My Tree Cone Observations
Here is a simple notebook page to use with your challenge this week. Have some fun observing a tree cone and help your children make a record of their thoughts for their nature journal. I left the box large enough that you can adhere a photo of your cone if you don’t want to sketch.

My Tree Cone – printable notebook page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, completeOutdoor Hour Challenge #6. Start a cone collection this week and complete the notebook page provided in the ebook if you desire. See this Pinterest board for display ideas: Nature Display.

Posted on February 12, 2014December 29, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Revelling in the Tree Silhouettes of Winter

We had a break in our rain today and the sun came out for the first time in days. I have been keeping track of our rain totals and in our rain gauge, I measured over fourteen inches in the past four days! It was a steady rain with strong downpours for periods of time…it was a lot of rain.

Today, I spent some time wandering in our backyard and noticing the trees. We live in a mixed conifer forested area so our yard has both deciduous and evergreen trees. The best way to share what I did for the tree silhouette challenge is to post lots of images.

The story really is about the trees. I encourage you to try to observe a bare winter tree both from afar and from underneath its branches. Look at the sky through the crisscrossing of the limbs. Take a photo and save it to compare the summer tree’s shape.

“Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year.”
Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 52

Try just one tree if you are overwhelmed by six. Keep it simple and fun for your kids. You may wish to visit this entry for more seasonal tree study ideas:
For The Love of Trees

Category: trees