ACTIVITY SHEET 1: GET TO KNOW A TREE       Back to KS2 contents

Get to know a tree

1. Choose a nearby TREE - any one you like, large or small.

2. Stand back and have a good look at your tree.

(a) How tall is it?
Ask a friend to stand next to your tree.
How many times can you fit your friend's
height into the height of the tree? ...................... times

(b) How many trunks has your tree got? .............

(c) How thick has the biggest trunk grown? Circle it with your hands, and tick the right answer:

   It is less than one handspan......... About one handspan........

   About two handspans.......            More than two handspans ..........
 

3. Now explore your tree

(a) What colour is its bark? ..................................................

(b) Shut your eyes and feel its bark, twigs and leaves.
What does its bark feel like? ..............................................................................................

(c) Shut your eyes and smell its bark and then its leaves -
do they smell the same? ...................................................................................................

(d) Shut your eyes and listen carefully.
What can you hear? ..........................................................................................................


4. What kind of tree is it?
Do a drawing that you can use later, to look up in a book. In summer, draw a leaf showing
the veins. In winter draw a twig, carefully showing the buds - where on the twig are they, and what shape are they?















5. Make a bark rubbing of your tree.


6. The nearest tree is .........paces away. Is it the same kind? .........  or different?...................


7. (a) There are lots of woodland animals and plants living in and around your tree. Search on the bark, on the leaves, and under your tree, and tick any that you find.

                     On the tree        Under the tree
Moss                  ........                ........
Fungi                  ........                ........
Spiders               ........                ........
Insects                ........               ........
Birds                   ........                ........
Bluebells             ........                ........
Nuts or seeds      ........                ........
Rotting leaves      ........                ........

Any others?      ...............        ...............


(b) Have any animals been eating your tree? Tick if any of these have been eaten. Look under your tree as well.
                               Bark ..........   Leaves  .........    Fruit..........


8. Finally, collect a leaf, and a twig, and flower or fruit if you can find any (look on the ground as well)
______________________________________________________________________________

TO DO LATER
9. Find out the name of your kind of tree, using a book about trees to help you, and write it on your leaf or twig drawing. Look out for other trees of the same kind


10. Draw a picture of your whole tree, and label a branch, root, and trunk.


11. Measure the height of the friend that you used in Question 2 and then work out the height of

 your tree:

 ...................................

12. Find out what the wood from your kind of tree is used for:

..................................................................................................................

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