Photo Credit: Eivind Hauger
Have you ever celebrated Arbor Day with your kids? Arbor Day is rooted in history and many nations observe a day of caring and planting trees, although the date varies according to planting season. Arbor Day is Friday, April 25th this year, so why not give it a try?
We had 5 cute little saplings to plant for our project. Since our house is nestled in the woods, we didn’t have much room for trees to grow. So we took a field trip over to a friend’s house who has space for trees to flourish.
As it turns out, my first grader had an assignment that week to measure using non-standard measurement. A non-standard unit of measurement is using something that is consistent in size, such as a standard popsicle stick (all popsicle sticks measure the same length), whereas something like a banana would be too variable to use as a measurement tool because some bananas are large and some are small. So, we turned it into an educational activity on several levels.
My son chose survey flags as his unit of non-standard measurement. First, he walked the area and estimated how many flags he needed to leave between plantings.
Next, he measured exactly how many feet the saplings would be apart, using the survey flags.
Next, we guessed how long our item of non-standard measurement (the survey flag) was and then we measured it for comparison.
Next, my boys took turns digging holes. (ah-hem, next time we will pick a spot that is a little further away from an already established tree!)
The next step was exciting – and we planted our trees.
And finally, we watered them so they would grow nice and strong.
Overall it was a fun activity. It was a great opportunity for our family to get out and enjoy nature and it was also helpful to our environment. For more information on Arbor Day, caring for and planting trees, visit the Arbor Day Foundation website.
