STEAM with
Ms. Amy
🌲 May 11: STEAM: Trees 🌴
The Great Kapok Tree
What makes a forest a rainforest? Watch this video to find out Explore the Rainforest
The rainforest has 4 layers: The Emergent, Canopy, Understory and Forest Floor. Within these layers live lots of animals. Listen to this read aloud of The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry, read by Ms. Amy..
Could you build your own Kapok Tree? You could use blocks, paper towel or toilet paper tubes, craft sticks, empty containers. How tall can you make your tree? Use a measuring tape to see. Could you balance some animals in your tree? What animals would live at the bottom? What about at the top and middle? Added challenge: How might you design a tree trunk by creating a pattern?
Science
Rainforest Terrarium
Tropical rainforests provide a lot of oxygen that we breathe in daily, making them an important part of our world. Could you make a rainforest in a jar? You need a clear container, pebbles, moss, potting soil, a tropical plant (fern, orchid, bamboo) and your favorite rainforest animal! Rainforest Terrarium
Leaf Exploration - Do leaves drink?
In this experiment, we will observe how water moves through a leaf. This project takes 3 days! Materials needed: fresh leaf with a stem, scissors, clear cup, water, food coloring and a magnifying glass if available. After placing the leaf in the cup of water with food coloring, have an adult or sibling help you write down what you notice about the leaf on day 1. Are there any color changes? Is the leaf growing in size? What do you observe on day 2 and day 3? Do you notice any changes?
The food coloring should slowly travel up the leaf through the xylem tubes of the leaf. These tubes move water and minerals up from the roots to the entire plant. Exploring Leaves
Do trees and leaves breathe?
Trees take in carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. In this experiment you will observe a leaf that is completely covered in water and see photosynthesis happening.
Remove a leaf from a tree and place it in a bowl of lukewarm water. Place something heavy on top of it - like a rock- so it is completely covered in water. Place the bowl in a sunny spot and wait a few hours.
What do you notice? Do you see any bubbles? Why might bubbles be forming?
This is what photosynthesis is - a process where leaves change sunlight to energy. As the leaf creates the energy, it needs to get rid of the things it no longer needs - the extra oxygen - this is the bubbles. How do leaves and trees breathe?
Expressive Arts
A Paintbrush from a Tree
Could you make a paintbrush out of pieces from a tree? Yes you can! Head outside to collect some of the materials you need for this project: several twigs, materials for bristles (pine needles, spruce needles, cypress foliage, even tree buds, etc), string, twine or a piece of raffia, rubber band if available.
The link shows ways you can make your brushes. Nature Paint Brush
What bristles worked the best for you? Did each brush you made paint a different pattern? I wonder what other materials you could gather to make another paintbrush?
The Drawing Tree
Have you ever thought about adding some colorful decorations to the trunk of a tree? In this fun project you can! Use a tree in your yard or if possible one in front of your house that others can add decorations to as well. Wrap a string around the base of the tree and attach some colorful drawings to it with yarn. You could start with a theme like animals and add those to your tree. If the tree is in the front of your house, you could place a sign in front of your tree saying “Add your animal drawings to our tree”. A few days later you could change your theme again. Some other ideas could be transportation, community helpers, space, and places. I wonder what you will put on your tree? Drawing Tree
Stick Family
Listen to the book The Stickman by Julia Donaldson
Could you make your own Stickman? What about a Stick Family? Gather some ‘Y’ shaped sticks and straight sticks, yarn, and googly eyes (or paper circles from a hole punch) for this fun project. Stick Family
Leaf Stamps
Have fun in this activity with making stamps from leaves. All you need are markers and leaves! Gather a few small fresh leaves. Color the back of the leaves (work quickly so the marker doesn’t dry on the leaves). Press the leaf firmly on some paper. What does your stamp look like?
Which leaf worked the best? What kind of leaves did you gather? Do you know the names of the trees they came from? Use the Leaf Identification Guide from the Dolphins unit this week (May 11th) to identify the tree. Stamping with leaves
Engineering
Falling Apples
Can you build a trunk of a tree out of toilet paper tubes? Falling Apples Activity To adapt this activity to use other materials, tape the toilet paper tubes to a wall. You can also use pom poms or any round object for the apples. Can you make your apples fall from the leaves of the tree, down the trunk and into your bucket? What happens if you make your trunk wavy and not straight? Do the apples still make it into your bucket? What animals could live in your tree? Could they slide down the trunk too? Do they make it into the bucket?
Treehouse
Can you build a treehouse like Pete the Cat?
Listen to the read aloud and then build your own treehouse.
Pete the Cat and The Tip-Top Treehouse by James Dean
How might you construct your own play treehouse? What materials will you need? I used toilet paper tubes, pipe cleaners, paper and cardboard. Who will go inside your treehouse? Will it be people or animals? I wonder if you could build a tree around it? How tall will your tree be? Use a measuring tape to compare the height of your tree to your treehouse.
Zipline for Toys and Stuffies
What is a zipline? Do you remember the pulleys we used in creative exploration? At the ELC, we used the pulleys and rope to transport letters of the alphabet back and forth from the ground to the top of the castle. A zipline is like that system. But it is only using a pulley to transport something from up high, down to the ground. Watch this video of my family making ziplines for their toys.
Building a zipline for your stuffies to travel from a tree to the ground will be so much fun! You will need a clothesline or silky thread, a pulley or straws to loop around the string, and a container to hold your toys. How long is your zipline? What happens to the toys when you lower the tree (top clothesline)? Do they go faster or slower? What happens if the tree is positioned higher? You could also use an umbrella with a curved handle to transport stuffies down your zipline. Open up the umbrella, hook the handle onto the clothesline and place your stuffies in the umbrella to give them a ride. Send videos of your zipline to Ms. Laurel.
Trees out of Food
Grab some pretzel sticks and grapes for this delicious activity. Could you build a tree with just those 2 foods? What could you use for the trunk of the tree? How about the roots and branches? What could be the leaves of the tree? What if you used popcorn or cherry tomatoes instead of grapes? What would they be on your tree? What could you use instead of pretzels? Once you have built your tree, have fun eating it! Send pictures to Ms. Laurel for the blog. Snack Tree
