Tree Unit Study Ideas

I feel like fall is the perfect time to learn about tress because they’re doing some really dramatic things this time of year (and going on a leaf hunt is always a good idea once the weather starts to cool down a little bit). But you can do different tree learning activities throughout the year regardless of the season. Let’s take a look at some great tree unit study ideas.

You can start out by learning the parts of the tree with this printable from NurtureStore. Use the drawing of a tree to label the parts, then look at a real tree and see what parts you can identify or gather for a nature table in the classroom.

Homeschool Helper Online has free printable journaling pages with trees through the year so kids can color in the leaves a little buds in spring, full green leaves in summer and changing colors in the fall. There are both deciduous and evergreen trees included so you can talk about the differences (free download with email signup).

Homeschool Share has a great printable unit study and lapbook about trees and the animals that live in them. This one is also free with email signup and includes tree trivia, vocabulary, the life cycle of an oak, parts of a trunk and much more.

Another great free download comes from Homeschool Giveaways, which has a leaf and tree unit study. This one gets into things like seeds and how they are dispersed, parts of a plant, photosynthesis, parts of a leaf, flower and fruit, layers of soil, places where different plants live and more. So it’s not specifically about trees entirely but still a great resource for talking about plants of all kinds. They also have a leaf vocabulary workbook if you really want to get into it.

Superstar Worksheets has some nice leaf printable worksheets including parts of a leaf and leaf coloring pages. And Happy Homeschool Adventures has ideas for a Montessori inspired tree unit study, as well as printable leaf three-part cards.

If you’re able to pay for resources, I like this tree unit study from Early Childhood Adventures at Teachers Pay Teachers, and this lovely unit study on deciduous trees from Fun Mom Printables on Etsy. There’s also this great Charlotte Mason inspired printables set from RikiTikiArt.

And of course you’ll want to identify the trees where you live, and maybe even find your state tree if you live in the United States. And check out more leaf learning activities, as well as activities around leaves that don’t use real leaves. And don’t forget some leaf crafts, too!

The notion of the importance of teaching kids how to write cursive seems to wax and wane. While some schools have taken it out of their curriculum, many still see the value of learning how to write and read script. My daughter learned how to write in cursive and though she doesn’t need it often, I’m glad to know she has those skills anyway.

If you’re a teacher or you want to teach your own children how to write in cursive, I found this great resource from The OT Toolbox that I think will help. They did a whole series of 31 days of posts about writing cursive and breaking down the skills that are needed to know how to form letters in cursive. It starts with the most basic elements — how and where a child is sitting, and how their paper is positioned.

It includes gross motor activities to get kids warmed up for writing, letter families and the starting lines used to start to form letters, tips for left handed students, letter identification, pencil grasp, writing speed and assessing problems, among other things.

You’ll also find some cursive letter flash cards that can be used to help with writing practice or letter identification.

You can find the whole series at The OT Toolbox.

Looking for more tools to help kids learn cursive? I love these free cursive letter practice printables from Living Loving Lancaster, which include practicing individual letters and tracing letters to write quotes.

Or grab individual letter practice worksheets that just include the letter in upper and lower case for kids to practice. These are from Everyday Chaos and Calm and are a great way to start practicing the individual letter forms. They also include a little map at the top that shows which way to form the letter or in what order if there are multiple strokes involved.

[Photo via The OT Toolbox]

Have you read?