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Spring Reading: A Tribute to Trees
Rated by 1 member
It's easy to take trees for granted, especially when you live in the Pine Tree State, where evergreens are as common as rocks and mosquitoes. All the more reason to make sure Caitlin, Ellie, and Natalie truly appreciate the woods around us. And what better a time to make such a tribute than spring, when trees sprout their showy greenery.
I started by asking the girls what they love most about trees.
"Birds!" Natalie cried. "Especially hawks. Braaawwwwk! They need a place to feed their babies!" More hawk noises.
"Climbing them!" chimed in Caitlin and Ellie, who can often be found dangling from the lower branches of our white pines.
"And don't forget maple syrup," added Caitlin (truly, we consume startling quantities).
This was more than enough to launch a casual chat about the many ways trees are important to the earth's health, without getting overly preachy.
To keep our tree celebration growing, we put together a basket of tempting tree-centric books near the couch. Some of our favorites:
Later, Natalie added Shel Silverstein's THE GIVING TREE, and I dropped in Virginia Lee Burton's THE LITTLE HOUSE. Trees are peripheral to this later story, but my daughters have always loved watching the apple trees change their looks along with the seasons.
As we admire them one more time, Ellie wishes for an apple tree in our own yard. And why not? There are plenty of pines already. We decide to plant one on -- what else? -- April 25, Arbor Day.
Member Comments On…
Spring Reading: A Tribute to Trees
Well Done-thanks for these thoughtful recommendations! My daughter is a total tree hugger so we'll check these out right away!
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Tracy, thanks for the book recommendations! I'm adding that Art Project one to my list for our next trip to the library.
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My kids help in the yard. I realize some of it is work (mowing, weed eating) but the part of planting, pruning, and of course, tending the strawberry patch has taught them now to nurture nature and it will give back. The community we live in is also big on nature. We live in the Appalachian mountains right near the Blue Ridge parkway. Our community has a new "clean and green" program going on and it's doing great at inspiring everyone to get involved. We have recycling competitons between neighborhoods and a lot of other things. Nothing like a healthy competition to get kids involved! :)
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Being Christians, we know that the world and everything in it was created by God. It is easy to teach our children to appreciate the "nature", that God created. The Bible teaches the He cares so much for the ants & sparrows just as he cares for us. Our children have a respect for the grandness of God's creations. This is how we teach about nature.
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