Trees: Buds and Twigs

In this hands-on nature activity, learners observe the emergence of leaves and flowers. Branches from trees and bushes are collected in the early spring, brought indoors, and placed in water. Learners consider such questions as: Do the leaves on the trees all emerge at the same time or do some trees sprout leaves sooner than others? Do all trees produce spring flowers? What environmental factors may bring about these changes? This activity is done over the course of a season, with learners observing changes periodically. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]