You may decide to incorporate an educational activity for children or youth during your event or encourage an activity at home. Download our Trees for Wildlife Event Planning Guide to find a variety of creative and scientific activities that can be adapted for people of all ages.
Example Activity from the Trees for Wildlife™ Event Planning Guide
ADOPT A TREE
Find and select a special tree in your backyard or a nearby park or forest.
- Sit below your tree, close your eyes and listen. How many sounds can you hear? Is the wind blowing? Do you hear birds?
- Photograph or sketch your tree through the seasons.
- Lie beneath your tree and look up through its branches. What do you observe from this angle?
- Visit your tree often and at different times of the day.
- Write the date and an observation on the back or your adoption card or in a notebook each time you visit or provide care for your tree. Has your tree changed since your last visit? Do you see any signs of animals? What’s happening around your tree?
You can also visit NWF’s Green Hour for 15-30 minute nature-based play and family-friendly activities that are sure to get youth engaged in outdoor exploration!
EcoSchools U.S.
A sustainable future begins at every EcoSchool. EcoSchools U.S. offers a certification program for elementary through secondary schools that nurture environmental learning and climate action. Students will join a global movement of over 19 million environmental leaders who are engaging in project-based and place-based learning to explore climate, biodiversity, and community-centered solutions to the climate crisis, advocating for climate justice, developing STEAM skills, making way for life and world-changing careers, and forming authentic partnerships within and outside school communities.
Our internationally recognized, curriculum-linked framework supports school communities as they assess, track, benchmark, and celebrate environmental excellence. We are the exclusive national operator of the EcoSchools program in the United States and a member of the international network of EcoSchools coordinated by the Foundation for Environmental Education and aligned to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Find the Learning about Forests and Growing a Schoolyard Forest action cards by registering as an EcoSchool today. Learn more about EcoSchools through our School Resources library.
