Arbor Day Leafy Crown

Materials

strips of brown tagboard (1' wide and 20" long)

Instructions

* Arbor Day is usually celebrated the last Friday in April. Find out what day
it is celebrated in your state (www.arborday.org).
1. Measure a strip of brown tagboard around each child's head and mark
where the ends meet using a pencil.
2. Cut out 8 to 10 oak leaf shapes from green construction paper and 5 to 6
acorn shapes from tan construction paper for each child.
3. Have the children lay their strips of brown tagboard flat and arrange
leaves and acorns between the two pencil marks on the brown strip.
4. Ask the children to use a glue stick to
glue the leaves and acorns to the brown
strip. Then have them secure the leaves
and acorns with strips of cellophane tape.
5. Finally, with the ends of the brown strip touching
the pencil marks, secure the ends with cellophane tape
to finish the leafy crown.
6. Teach the children the following action rhyme with gestures:
Little Acorn, Big Tree
Little acorn, tan and round, (children squat, circling their arms to show
"round")
Spreads its roots beneath the ground. (still squatting, children spread their
hands along the floor)
Soon it grows into a tree, (children
stand up)
Green and tall, as you can see. (children
spread their arms and stand on toes)
More to do Using money donated from parents or
from a bake sale, buy a tree to plant on
school property. Let the children help dig
the hole, water the plant, and cover the
roots with earth. Put a simple sign next to
the tree, such as "Donated by Mrs. Smith's
4-year-old class 2006."
Home-School Connection: Contact your
local state agricultural office or a local
master gardener and ask if they have pine
seedlings they would give to the class. Let
each child plant a seedling in a 1-gallon
coffee can and take it home to plant in his yard.