Preschool Forest Lessons

Science

Experiencing science phenomena is central to science instruction, and a schoolyard forest is a wonderful opportunity for students to directly experience phenomena in the natural world. We have provided a curated collection of lessons and activities that support life sciences education in three main strands: (1) plant structure and function, (2) ecosystem interconnections, and (3) the carbon cycle. This is just the start! Many other connections will emerge for students and teachers as they engage with trees in a spirit of inquiry.

Plant Structure and Function

The Tree Is Like Me!, PDF page 72 — from TreePeople
Students learn about similarities and differences between themselves and trees through this drawing and observation activity. This can be connected to an “All About Me” class activity.

Build A Tree — Green Schoolyards America
This classic role-play activity helps students learn the structures and functions of tree parts while working as a team. 

Ecosystems

Animals All Around? Leaf Litter Exploration — Kiwi Conservation Club
Students explore the leaf litter ecosystem to record invertebrate species they discover.

Bug Hunt — KidsGardening
Students make habitat and ecosystem connections as they look for insects and other small creatures that might be living among the plants. 

Camouflage Hide and Seek — Educate Outside
Students color a paper bug or bird to camouflage with the natural environment and hide it for a friend to find outside.

Critter Playground — Learning withOutdoors
Students use materials found on the ground to make a playground for real or imagined bugs and other critters.

Explore Sun, Shade and Shadows — E Movement
In this movement activity, students play a game moving between hot and cool areas of their schoolyard. This activity can be used to teach about microclimates, tree shade, solar energy, and the passage of time.

Who’s Been in the Forest? — Green Schoolyards America
This visual guide supports students in closer observation as they look for signs of bug and animal activity among the trees.  

The Carbon Cycle and Climate Literacy

Understanding the carbon cycle is a key part of understanding the science of climate change. Schoolyard trees are an opportunity to directly explore photosynthesis and carbon uptake and storage by plants. Young students can start with basic concepts, such as learning about leaves, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. This will help students better understand and value how their schoolyard forest is part of the solution for mitigating carbon emissions. 

Shades of Green, PDF page 26 — Moving the Classroom Outdoors
Students collect a variety of green leaves and deepen their observation skills of this part of the plant, essential to photosynthesis and the carbon cycle. 

“Science as One Way of Knowing, Not the Only Way

All cultures have a deep history of observing, investigating, and living closely with the natural world that predates modern “science.” Humans have always gathered knowledge about the natural world in ways that are similar to current scientific thinking and in other ways that differ from scientific thinking. The ecological knowledge that is obtained by Indigenous peoples and western science are both valid, with each having roots that are based on philosophical foundations, methods of validation, and communities of respected experts. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) refers to an evolving body of knowledge based on hundreds or thousands of years of close observations of ecosystems by Indigenous people.”

— BEETLES, Lawrence Hall of Science

Mathematics

Trees and their parts—leaves, twigs, seeds, and flowers—can be used for applying the mathematical skills of sorting, measuring, classifying, counting, estimating, data collection, and understanding patterns. The sensory nature of these materials can make math lessons appealing to a broader segment of the student population and give them an opportunity to collect real-life data to analyze and represent. Below you will find a curated collection of lessons and activities that use schoolyard forests to support math education.

Get it Sorted! — Learning through Landscapes
Students sort natural items including leaves, in a variety of ways, using patterns and number lines as possible ways to display data.

Leaf Math — Learning withOutdoors
Students use leaves for skip counting, sorting, classifying, and fractions.

Pictograph Activities for Kindergarten – Leaf Chart — Play of the Wild
Students use leaves to make hands-on bar graphs and learn about data handling in this fun activity on the school grounds.

Tree Shapes — Learning withOutdoors
Students learn about observing and classifying trees from the basic shape of a tree’s silhouette.

Venn Diagrams for Children — Leaves — Play of the Wild
In this hands-on activity, students use hula hoops and leaves to make venn diagrams that can include simple to complex botanical concepts.

Visual Arts

Nature makes a rich and inviting subject for the visual arts. The activities showcased below include (1) art lessons that use plant materials that can be gathered from a schoolyard forest and (2) lessons that feature trees as the subject for different media, such as drawing, painting, or photography. The forest can also be used as an outdoor setting for arts classes when material needs are simple, or be a source of inspiration that is further interpreted in the art studio. 

Autumn Leaf Bunting — Royal Horticultural Society
Students press leaves to make a beautiful display to string outside, in hallways, or in classrooms.

Colour in Our Outdoor World, PDF page 96 (English) or Los Colores en Nuestro Mundo Exterior, PDF página 32 (Spanish) — Learnscapes AustralAsia
Students build observation skills and color sense as they take paint samplers/color swatches outside to find matching shades of color in the outdoor environment.

Leaf Pounding Journal (English), Diario: Martilleo de Hojas (Spanish), and Leaf Pounding Journal (Chinese) — Plant Heroes
Students collect leaves and petals and use the technique of pounding to create an art piece.

Leaf Rubbings (English) and Calcos de Hojas (Spanish) — Canopy
Students explore leaf shapes and patterns by making rubbings on paper. 

Light and Shade, PDF page 141 (English) or Proměny Světla a Stínu, PDF page 21 (Czech) — Karel Komárek Proměny Foundation
Students capture the shadows of a tree and its branches using paper and chalk or pencil. 

Nature Paint Brushes — PBS Kids
Roots, leaves, and twigs can all be bundled together to make a variety of unusual paint brushes. Students explore these brushes with paint, water, or mud paint. Many extra materials are available after a weeding or pruning day at the school—ask for some to be saved.

Painting the Seasons, PDF page 29 — Green Schoolyards America
Bring the art studio outside to create paintings of trees while observing and recording changes throughout the year. 

Pressed Flower Card — Life Lab
This guide provides suggestions on how to press and dry plant material, which can be used for art projects or herbarium specimens.

Printing with Leaves — Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Students use paint or ink with a variety of leaves to capture shapes and textures on paper.

Signs and Displays — Green Schoolyards America
This tip sheet showcases several possibilities for creating signs for trees while incorporating the arts and language arts as well as science and social studies.

Tree Faces — Learning through Landscapes
Students use clay to sculpt an imaginary face on a tree while incorporating features of the tree.

Nature Play

A schoolyard forest inherently results in what are known as “loose parts” in outdoor education. These loose parts can include the mulch around trees, fallen leaves, twigs, seeds, or flowers. These items are a wonderful source of materials for imaginative play. Small pruned branches and materials from weeding work can also be saved for play. The list of activities below includes some ideas for encouraging children to use these loose parts, whether for mandalas, bug habitats, or imaginary creature homes.

Creating Small Worlds in Your School Ground, PDF page 39 — Evergreen
Children use loose natural parts to make small worlds for fairies, elves, or other imaginary creatures.

Critter Playground — Learning withOutdoors
Students use materials found on the ground to make a playground for real or imagined bugs and other critters.

Social-Emotional Learning

It is now well understood that the social-emotional aspect of teaching and learning is a critical component of education. We also know that being outdoors in nature supports social-emotional development. The curated resources below support the five competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. They also overlap with curriculum in the sciences, social sciences, and visual arts, while developing environmental literacy. 

Build a Tree — Green Schoolyards America
This classic role-play team activity helps students learn the structures and functions of tree parts and develops social awareness and relationship skills.

Meet a Tree — Sharing Nature Worldwide
In this activity, one student (or adult) leads a blindfolded partner to “meet” a tree and get to know it through the sense of touch. This trust-building activity can be used to develop relationship skills, social awareness, self-management, and self-awareness skills.

Tree Faces — Learning through Landscapes
Students use clay to sculpt a face on a tree while incorporating features of the tree. This can be used to build self-awareness and social awareness while also teaching about “talking trees” in mythology. 

The Tree Is Like Me!, PDF page 72 — TreePeople
Students learn about similarities and differences between themselves and their adopted tree through this drawing and observation activity. This self-awareness and perspective-taking activity can be combined with the classic “All About Me” activity.

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Schoolyard Forest System℠

The Schoolyard Forest System℠ Resource Library is a set of practical tools for schools and districts working to increase tree canopy on public school grounds to shade and protect PreK-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change. Funding for the first phase of this initiative was provided by a grant administered by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Urban and Community Forestry Program, and private philanthropy.