Life Cycle of a Tree

Last month we learned about life cycles of a tree.

The first life cycle we learned was the seed.

We got to play a fun Seed Letters game. I wrote Miss M’s name on a nametag and then trimmed the bottom of some paper cups. We pretended they were our “seeds”. I wrote each letter of her name on each seed. Then I buried the seeds in a blanket and then Miss M would find one and we’d compare it to the letters on her nametag. When we found it we would clap and cheer that she found the seed. If it wasn’t the letter we were looking for, she would put it back and look for another.

We also played a seed counting game. We had a little game board with the numbers 1-6 and a circle in each space representing that number on it. I gave Miss M a little bowl of dry cereal (our seeds) and then I would try to have her place one piece of cereal on each circle. Then we would try to point to and count each piece.

She did pretty well with this and then after a while she decided she wanted to snack on our “seeds”.

The next life cycle we learned about was the root.

I got out our theme poster for the month and sat down with Miss M to try to name objects on it. She really likes these posters. She had fun pointing out and naming familiar objects (apple, bird, tree).

Another activity Miss M loves is decorating her little journals each month. I gave her the journal and then helped her trace her hand onto the cover. Then we tried to color her hand like a tree’s leaves and then decorate with yarn pieces for roots. I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of this in time before she already took the “roots” off. Gotta be quicker next time!

Next life cycle is the trunk

We got to learn the story of Honest George. I gave Miss M a spoon and a bowl and we turned it upside down like a drum. She loved this! I had to let her play with it for a bit because she didn’t want to listen to the story at first because she was having so much fun banging on the bowl.

As I read the story, I encouraged her to act out the story by pounding the spoon on the bowl and pretending to be George chopping down the tree. Then I explained that we should always say what is true when we answer questions and then Miss M got an Honest Bee Badge

The next life cycle of a tree is the branch.

This activity was a huge hit as well. We got to do some fruit pie counting. I got out our little pie tins that Mother Goose Time provided us as well as our Fruit Bead manipulatives. I showed Miss M how to put one bead in each pie tin and then had her continue to fill the tins with one bead.

Then we would dump them out and repeat, but putting two pieces in each tin this time. And then repeating with three and four pieces.

And finally the last life cycle of a tree is the leaves.

The activity for today that Miss M enjoyed the most was Hungry Caterpillar Beads. We had a green pipe cleaner and some beads that we were to put together to create our hungry caterpillar. I gave Miss M one bead and had her try to slide it onto the pipe cleaner. It took her a little bit and I had to help show her how to do it a few times, but she eventually got it and had lots of fun putting the beads onto the pipe cleaner, then taking them off, and then putting them back on. This was a really great fine motor activity for her.