Trees Without Leaves
In winter a tree gives away who it is through its bark and its buds. Once your child has felt three trunks with a bare palm, they will recognise them from across the yard.
What you need
- Three trees you walk past every day
- Warm gloves you can take off for a moment
- A fallen twig
How to play
- Pick three trees in the yard or park that you pass every day.
- Run a bare palm over each trunk and describe the bark out loud: cracked, smooth, peeling, flaking.
- Look at the tips of the twigs and compare the buds: fat and sticky, small and black, in pairs or one by one.
- Pick up a fallen twig from the ground and look at its buds close up.
- Give each tree a nickname that comes from what you found.
- Come back in spring and check which of the three opened its leaves first.
