Tree education
Materials for multiple subjects
This collection was created to help educators seamlessly integrate tree-focused learning into science, social studies, art and language arts lessons. With adaptable guides and lesson plans, you can discover diverse ways to explore the important role trees play in our environment, culture and daily lives.
Whether you’re teaching about ecosystems, history or creative expression, these resources offer a fun, cross-curricular approach that connects students to the natural world in meaningful ways.
Incorporating tree education into diverse settings
We have compiled a collection of resources, broken down by subject, for educators looking to bring tree education into their classrooms.
Science
Students will identify the trees in their school communities, learn about tree ecosystems and understand the benefits they provide.
Tree Detectives
Students will practice their observation skills and apply them to identifying trees in their neighborhood; this activity can be scaled for grade levels K-12.
Let’s Start Growing
Students will learn about the typical life cycle of a tree, including the growing requirements of different species, by growing their own from seeds.
The Story of a Tree
Learners will practice observing and analyzing a tree and its parts, strengthening their ability to identify factors that can influence form and growth.
Life of a Tree
An interactive resource library presented by the Arbor Day Foundation with online activities, videos, slide decks and printable worksheets for learners of all ages.
Trees and Their Parts
Students will identify different types of trees, learn about their benefits and understand how other species within the same ecosystem can impact a tree’s growth.
Climate Heroes! The Power of Trees
This guide contains classroom resources for any grade level, including discussion questions, activities, lesson plans, videos, demonstrations, experiments and more.
Neighborhood Forests: Southwest Learning Guide
Information, activities and worksheets on urban forests compiled by University of Arizona and the Department of Forestry and Fire Management.
Social studies
Students will study the importance of trees in different cultures and explore their community’s relationship to trees. They can also consider how our built environment is similar to a tree, or inspired by nature.
We Are Not Alone
This interactive K-12 activity offers an introduction to biomimicry concepts. Students will learn how nature-inspired designs can solve human problems. Learners will be able to understand the similarities and differences between the functions of a tree and the functions of a building.
Contributing to Community: Enjoying and Appreciating Trees
Students explore the importance of trees to people and their communities through reading and analyzing texts, considering how the characters in these stories enjoy or appreciate trees and writing about their reflections in journal entries.
This is What Happened When an Australian City Gave Trees Email Addresses
Inspired by a project in Melbourne, Australia, this creative writing exercise gives students a chance to practice writing a letter to a tree in their schoolyard or neighborhood. What might they write? Students are encouraged to follow prompts or write freely.
Art
Students will explore nature’s influence on artistic expression through hands-on activities and through conceptual analysis.
What Can a Leaf Be?
Students will create art using leaves; they will be able to identify the tree species that the leaf came from and create a unique, nature-inspired collage using multiple types of leaves.
Andy Goldsworthy’s Land Art
How can we integrate art into the way we look at nature? What are the different ways that we can look at the environment around us? Students will create works of art in nature, using materials found in nature.
Trees in Nature and Art
How does nature inspire art? In this lesson for grades 6-8, students will explore the use of trees in paintings and poetry. They will explore the artwork of Thomas Locker and Vincent van Gogh through a scientific lens.
Language arts
Students will explore different varieties of tree-inspired writing, from fiction, poetry and short stories to scientific descriptions of trees on their campus.
Contributing to Community: Enjoying and Appreciating Trees
Students explore the importance of trees to people and their communities through reading and analyzing texts, considering how the characters in these stories enjoy or appreciate trees and writing about their reflections in journal entries.
The Story of a Tree
In this exercise, students will practice cultivating empathy for nature. They will consider the life of a tree and the challenges it faces as a living organism. Through storytelling, they will craft a narrative of their tree’s life, imagining what happened throughout its life and what adaptations it could have used to survive.
Thoreau and Trees: A Visceral Connection
This article explores how the American writer saw trees as miracles that encapsulate all that is good about nature. Students will gain insights into the inspiration Henry David Thoreau gleaned from trees, and the ways we can see this sense of wonder and appreciation reflected in his writing.
General education
We have compiled a set of materials from partner organizations that cover general tree education topics.
Arizona Urban Tree Map Field Guide
This tree field guide is designed to aid in the identification of trees commonly found in urban settings across the desert Southwest.
Why Trees Matter
Trees play a crucial role in our ecosystem and provide irreplaceable benefits to our environment. This resource offers general information for those looking to learn more about trees.
Changing the Story of Heat in Metro Phoenix
The Nature Conservancy and Trees Matter partnered to develop a StoryMap covering urban heat in the Valley and what we can do about it.
YouTube Resources
The Nature Conservancy’s Urban Heat Leadership Academy YouTube playlist has videos that explore different sustainability topics, including the benefits of shade trees and tree care.
Incorporating tree education
in diverse settings
Trees are all around us, and deepening our understanding of trees can strengthen our understanding of other topics and challenges as well. Take a look at some different ways tree education can be folded into existing educational opportunities and environments.
- Utilize lesson plans and instructional guides from the Tree Education Toolkit to structure classroom activities.
- Incorporate hands-on activities such as tree identification walks, tree measurements and art projects inspired by trees.
- Integrate discussions about the importance of trees in different cultures and their impact on the environment and communities.
- Encourage students to write tree-inspired poetry, stories and journal entries as part of English language arts activities.
- Take students on nature walks to observe and identify trees in their natural habitat.
- Use the DFFM Southwest Neighborhood Forests Learning Guide for outdoor activities focused on tree ecosystems and environmental science.
- Engage students in tree-related art projects such as bark rubbings, leaf prints and land art inspired by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy.
- Facilitate and engage in discussions about the role of trees in local ecosystems and the benefits they provide to wildlife and humans.
- Creatively incorporate elements of the Tree Education Toolkit into after-school science clubs, environmental clubs or art workshops.
- Organize tree identification challenges or scavenger hunts in collaboration with local parks or nature reserves.
- Encourage students to showcase the importance of trees in their community through different means of artistic expression.
- Host creative writing workshops where students can express their thoughts and feelings about trees through poetry, stories, or journaling.
- Coordinate and participate in tree planting events or community clean-up activities to promote environmental stewardship and tree conservation.
- Partner with local organizations or government agencies to offer tree education workshops to explore how to share best practices of how to take care of neighborhood trees.
- Create informational displays or exhibits showcasing the diversity of tree species in the area (state, city, neighborhood,etc.) and their cultural significance.
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