Celebrate Arbor Day in your Classroom
Celebrate Arbor Day in your classroom! It’s easy as 1, 2, tree! Arbor Day is a holiday that promotes planting and protecting trees. Illinois celebrates Arbor Day on the last Friday in April - next year, Arbor Day is April 26, 2013. If you missed Arbor Day 2012 don't worry - every day is a great day to celebrate trees! Communities often celebrate Arbor Day by planting trees with school children. Listed below are activities and lesson plans developed by Arboretum expert educators to help you celebrate the holiday and teach your students about the importance of trees and conservation. These activities can be great enhancements to your curriculum year round!
NEW! Tree Tagging Kits
Promote understanding and value of trees by highlighting the environmental benefits of individual trees. Depending on the grade level and number of students, this hands-on activity will take approximately 2-3 hours and is best done over two days. Internet access is required. Parts of this activity are best done indoors while other parts require students to be outdoors.
Each kit contains:
(20) 11x17 inch weather resistant tags (made from recycled materials), measuring tape, twine for hanging tags, marker, web links for tree I.D. assistance, activity instructions, Grade 3-12 lesson plans (STEM), and Arbor Day celebration ideas.
Two tag designs to chose from!
2013 Tree Tag Kit REGISTRATION
Plant Trees
How to Germinate Tree Seeds
How to Plant a Seedling
How to Plant a Tree
Grades pre-K through 2
The Story of Arbor Day (how J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day)
Know Your Oaks (a song)
Acorn Flip Book (a flipbook animation of an acorn sprouting)
One Tree, Many Homes (drawing activity)
One Tree, Many Thoughts (writing activity)
How Many Leaf Shapes Can I Find? (sorting activity)
Leaf Rubbing (art activity)
Bulletin Board idea for grades preK - 2
Quotations for Bulletin Board
Tree Jokes for Bulletin Board
Grades 3 through 5
The Value of a Tree (find the value of your school trees!)
What We Get From Trees Scavenger Hunt (outdoor scavenger hunt)
Break the Tree Code (coding activity)
One Tree, Many Thoughts (writing activity)
Acorn Flip Book (a flipbook animation of an acorn sprouting)
Trees Help Us (math activity)
Why Plant Trees? (good reasons to plant trees)
One Tree, One Child (reading tree rings)
Bulletin Board idea for grades 3 - 5
Quotations for Bulletin Board
Tree Jokes for Bulletin Board
Grades 6 through 8
The Value of a Tree (find the value of your school trees!)
Arbor Day Haiku (writing activity)
Find the Age and Benefits of a Tree (lesson plan)
Tree Identification Activity
Grades 9 through 12
The Value of a Tree (find the value of your school trees!)
Find the Age and Benefits of a Tree (lesson plan - includes discussion questions and additional research opportunities)
Tree Identification Activity
More Resources
Arbor Day Foundation's website provides lots of resources to celebrate Arbor Day including:
- Games and videos for youth and educators
- A Teacher's Guide to Arbor Month from the Minnesota Arbor Month Partnership.
Additional online tree resources for teachers.