Once your trees have been planted, they will need your care and attention!
1. Give your wooded area a name.
2. Let everyone know why the trees were planted. Create a poster, poem or picture which can be used to explain why we’re planting trees. (Please send photographs to us so we can let everyone else in EAC know about your good work!)
3. Create a Tree Charter. A tree charter will help everyone in the school community understand how to take care of and protect your new woodland. The Woodland Trust – Tree Charter is an example of what a Tree Charter can look like. However, a pupil created and agreed charter will be much more effective.
Below are some suggestions to help you give your trees the best possible start and in the process you will learn more about living things and their needs.
The first activity comes from the RHS. Make Fun Cane Toppers shows you how to make toppers for your cane supports. The canes are working to help your tree but cane toppers will help protect you. Turn this into a Technologies challenge – ‘What improvements could you make to the design to make sure that the toppers stay on the canes?’ ‘What materials make the best, longest lasting cane toppers?’ CfE TCH 1-10a and TCH 2 -10a.
OWL Scotland Scotland Network have produced a booklet of activities from across the curriculum to support your understanding and appreciation of trees. OWL Scotland Tree Booklet
The booklet Tree Measuring ,also from OWL Scotland, provides tree measuring activities suitable for learners working from Early Level and up. Monitor the progress of your new trees and investigate established trees whether in your school grounds or further afield.
Lindsay, our partner from TCV Green Gym, has created some activities to help you think about the special jobs that trees do for us and what makes them so important. TCV Green Gym – Why are trees so important?
Learn about trees through stories about the different species commonly found in Scotland. There is a story for every month of the year in Tree Stories which can be found on the OWL Scotland Resources pages.
