23rd November to 1st December it’s National Tree Week and we’re already getting ready for it and excited!
National Tree Week is the UK's largest annual tree celebration, marking the start of the winter tree planting season (November to March each year). National Tree Week is a great chance for communities to do something positive for their local treescape. Each year, upward of a quarter of a million people to get their hands dirty and together plant trees… and this year we’d like to get you involved!
The Tree Council runs lots of events and these can be found on their Near You map. If you're interested in organising your own event, they also provide some useful tips on how to organise successful tree planting activities. But what about introducing a week of learning about trees in your school and, particularly, in your playground?
We’ve put together our favourite places to find teaching resources, all about trees. If you’re organising events or getting outdoors to learn more about trees then we’d love to see the photos and hear what you’re up to. You can send them in to us at sales@playforce.co.uk or via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. And do make sure you’re following them all for news of our special, surprise Tree Week give-away… more information to follow soon!
But first, here are our top five places to find teaching resources about trees:
BBC Trees Investigation - This is a wonderful collection of resources needed if you’d like to conduct the Terrific Scientific Trees Investigation. It includes a how-to film, lesson plan, lesson resources and student resources. There’s also a handy classroom presentation you can use in class and other further resources to help you to deliver the investigation.
Woodland Trust - It stands to reason that the Woodland Trust has some pretty awesome teaching resources about trees. Spanning KS1 and KS2 you can search Tree Tools by curriculum area to get a whole wealth of ideas for taking learning outdoors. There’s also the Nature Detectives with ideas for smaller children. You can even order tree packs to get planting!
The Guardian - A few years ago The Guardian published some ideas and resources for ways to get children involved in National Tree Week. Their suggestions are still relevant and worth a look!
Forestry England - This site includes some amazing resoures about trees, ranging from spotter guides through to an EYFS pack and even a Roald Dahl themed forest adventure.
Trees for Cities - This group proves that you don’t have to be in a countryside setting to learn about trees in the playground. There are stacks of ideas here, each grouped by age, for ways to get involved with learning about trees and growing plants in the playground.
Don’t forget…
At Playforce we’re committed to producing and installing the very highest quality of sustainable wooden play equipment. This means that all of our products are made from FSC certified timber that has been sustainably sourced from a supplier that meets internationally and nationally agreed standards of responsible forest management.