Trees and Leaves

Trees are the biggest living neighbors most of us have, and each kind leaves clues in its leaves, bark, and seeds. The 1911 Handbook for Boys included a field guide to common North American trees. The Beard sisters taught girls to print leaves straight onto paper, a craft you can still try at the kitchen table.

Things to try

In any order, at your own pace. Tick what you've tried if you like keeping track; ticks stay on this device.

1. Adopt a treeChoose one tree you can visit often. Give it a nickname, then draw or photograph it, its leaves, and its bark. A good goal: you've visited it at least once a month for three months, noting what changed.
2. Read a leafCollect fallen leaves and sort them: simple or compound, smooth or toothed edges, needles or broad leaves. Learn whether your tree's leaves grow opposite each other or alternate along the twig. A good goal: you can sort ten leaves and explain your groups.
3. Identify ten treesUse a field guide or tree app to name ten kinds of trees in your neighborhood or a park. Tape a fallen leaf from each into a notebook with its name. A good goal: your notebook has ten trees.
4. Make rubbings and printsMake crayon rubbings of bark and leaves. Then try a leaf print: brush paint onto the back of a leaf and press it onto paper. A good goal: you have a page of rubbings and prints.
5. Measure your treeWrap a tape measure around your adopted tree's trunk 4½ feet above the ground, which is how foresters measure. Estimate its height with shadows. Measure your shadow and the tree's shadow at the same time; the tree's height equals your height times the tree's shadow, divided by your shadow. A good goal: you've recorded both numbers.
6. Count ringsFind a stump or a cut log slice and count its rings from the center out. Most trees add one ring a year. A good goal: you've estimated the tree's age and noticed any thick or thin rings.
7. Follow the seedsCollect seeds from three kinds of trees, such as acorns, maple “helicopters,” and pinecones. Test how each one travels by dropping it, blowing on it, or rolling it. A good goal: you can explain how each tree spreads its seeds.
8. Give a tree tourLead a family member on a tree tour of at least five trees, with one fact about each. A good goal: the tour is finished and they can name two trees on their own.

Read about it in the old books

• 📖 1911 Handbook for Boys: Common North American Trees ↗
• 📖 Beard sisters, American Girl's Handy Book: Printing from Nature's Types ↗
• 🔗 Handbook of Nature Study lessons: trees