Montessori-Inspired Tree Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now 

Trees are perfect for a theme in April. With spring, Earth Day, and Arbor Day as common April themes, trees are a natural fit in many ways! 

At Living Montessori Now, I have a list of free tree printables. The free printables include my latest subscriber freebie (a Montessori-inspired tree pack).
Here, I'm sharing ideas for using free tree printables to create Montessori-inspired activities for preschoolers through first graders. 

You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities. 

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools. 

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Tree-Themed Activities

My shelves with tree-themed activities include a free tree culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired tree numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I always have related books available throughout a unit. On my top shelf, I have Tree by Britta Teckentrip, The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-ups, Tell Me, Tree, and Trees, Leaves and Bark. These books are all Montessori friendly and great resources for a variety of ages. I have a number of other tree books for the theme that I'll tell about in an upcoming post at Living Montessori Now.

You'll see the handmade My Tree Book (My Tree Book by Elizabeth Hall- Kickin' it in Kindergarten at Teachers Pay Teachers) on the top shelf. We used that for our nature walk to introduce the theme. I'll share more about it in an upcoming post at Living Montessori Now! 

You could mix your tree-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special tree-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves this month have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Tree Culture Card with Tree Book by Britta Teckentrup

 

I'm happy to share with you this lovely tree culture card from The Montessori Company. I’m hosting the free printable as an instant download at Living Montessori Now. You can always access the free tree culture card here. 

The description says: “Trees grow tall and strong with leaves that reach for the sunlight. They can grow fruit, flowers and nuts, depending on the type..”

Parts of a Tree Puzzle, Cards, and Booklet-making Materials Free 

Printable: Montessori Parts of a Tree (subscriber freebie) from Trillium Montessori 

This activity uses the Montessori tree puzzle (ours is from the awesome Montessori By Mom Shoots and Sprouts Toolbox), the free printables for parts of a tree matching and booklet making, and a Montessori Services basket. We use a Montessori Services rug for our floor work. 

Reading Parts of a Tree Cards after Matching Tree Puzzle Pieces to Cards

Montessori By Mom has some great extensions for the Montessori tree puzzle. My 4-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, loves the puzzle, so I enjoy finding new variations for her. Renae from Every Star Is Different uses this variation in her "Tree Activities for Tots and Preschoolers." I like that it's a different way to use 3-part cards. 

Zoey laid out each puzzle piece under the matching card and then read the card labels before putting the puzzle back together. 

The Life Cycle of an Oak Tree and the Life Cycle of a Pine Tree  
Free Printable: Oak Tree Life Cycle Sequencing Cards from PreKinders 

Free Printable: The Life Cycle of a Pine Tree from The Teacher Couple at Teachers Pay Teachers 

This activity uses a real acorn and pinecone along with the printables. The child can lay out the life cycle cards in order and use the booklets to check his or her work.

T is for Tree Salt Tray, Object Basket, and Movable Alphabet Work (see shelf photo)

Free Printables: Tree Letters for tree writing tray and object basket (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

For the salt tray, I used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though. I added a couple of Safari Ltd. trees from the Trees TOOB for interest. 

For the movable alphabet work, I used a traditional small wooden movable alphabet. I also used Montessori Services language objects tub, top, and tag, and printed number "10" as words for spelling with the movable alphabet. 

For children working on their phonetic sounds, the /t/ objects could be used in an object basket. If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers. 

Tree ee Phonogram Card and Booklet Free Printables: “ee” tree font cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

Free Printable: "ee" Sound with Letters from MontessoriSoul 

This was so easy to prepare, yet it isolates the "ee" phonogram very well. I have a post and video on how to introduce words starting with phonograms, even with very young children. 

DIY Maple Tree Cards and Counters Free Printables: Maple Tree Numbers (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

Note: I'll change to another tree-themed math activity with free printable (Free Printable: Summer Palm Tree Hundreds Chart Mystery Picture from Mrs. Thompson's Treasures at Teachers Pay Teachers) in a week or so. 

I love making DIY themed cards and counters to introduce odd and even and add interest and variety to cards and counters. I used maple leaf acrylic pendant. You need exactly 55 leaves if you want to do the numbers and counters 1-10.



Again, we use a Montessori Services rug for our floor work. 

Conifer and Deciduous Tree Match Ups  

Free Printable: Deciduous and Conifer Tree Matchups from Every Star Is Different 

This is another super easy activity to prepare. I used a Multicraft tray, printables, and Bambu condiment cup to hold the small cards. You could use just the deciduous or conifrer matchups on the tray. I have both combined on this tray. 

Fingerprint Trees through the Seasons Free Printable: Seasons and Trees from Jessica Steffel at Teachers Pay Teachers

For this activity, I just used the printable on a Multicraft tray along with a washable stamp pad for kids to use to make fingerprint "leaves" for each season of tree. 

More Free Tree Printables 

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free tree printables from around the blogosphere: Free Tree Printables and Montessori-Inspired Tree Activities. 

And be sure to subscribe to my email list if you'd like to get an exclusive free printable each month (plus two more awesome freebies right away): Free Printables. 

More Tree Activities and Resources 

Montessori-Inspired Arbor Day Activities (my roundup post)

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! It's written for anyone who'd like to feel comfortable teaching manners to children ages 2-12. I'm also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!

Have a happy Earth Day and Arbor Day!

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 42 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and 3-year-old granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

Spring Is In Full Bloom in Pre-K!

Hi! I'm Ayn and I am a Ga. Pre-K teacher, serving 4 and 5 year olds in an inclusive setting. I share my classroom adventures on my blog, little illuminations.

Spring is finally here!!!! We have been celebrating the arrival of Spring in our Pre-K class for a little while now, but we have had several cold snaps, so it hasn't felt like Spring was official until the last couple of weeks. We have been learning about plants and flowers in our Pre-K class, so I thought I would share some of our fun with you here today.

We started by talking about the parts of a plant and how each part functions to help the plant grow. Later, we put together a little flower and the children helped me label each part (they named, we wrote). Originally, we didn't have pollen as part of this plant activity, but they insisted, so we cut up some yarn to make little pollen particles. (The children are very familiar with pollen, as in our area the pollen is so thick it coats the cars, streets and outside areas in a thick yellow-green dust. The kids actually collect bucketfuls on the playground and call it "broccoli" because it does look like little broccoli stalks when it falls from the trees, before being dispersed. )

We talked and read a lot about how water travels up the plant through the roots through little veins. This was a tough concept for the kids to really get without a visual, so we put some fresh cut celery stalks in colored water to we could observe the colored water as it traveled up the celery to the top. The children were so excited about this that they checked the celery every day!

We didn't want to waste the bottom we cut off, so we placed it in a bowl of water so we could observe it as it sprouted new growth.

We planted several kinds of seeds, and used some quick growing grass seed to make some "Hairy Harry"s. They drew a little face on the cups (unfortunately the faces don't show up very well in the pictures!) They loved watching the grass sprout and grow! 

The children were very busy drawing flowers and plants. It seemed every day I got a new batch of flower drawings! 

Right before St. Patrick's Day we used green peppers to make shamrock prints. 

We had several field trips that week along with other activities and didn't get to use all the peppers we had, so we used some of the peppers to make flower prints with paint in art center. I love that they experimented by making leaves and stems, and some even twisted the pepper around on the paper to make original flower designs a little differently.

We've been so busy with field trips and "getting ready for kindergarten" activities that Mother's Day just crept up on us. We made these cute little flower jars for our Moms using fingerprints to make flowers and planted a little flower in each for them to take home to Mom for Mother's Day. 

 

                 Happy Spring and Happy Mother's Day!

 Stop by and visit me anytime at littleilluminations.blogspot.com or visit the little illuminations fanpage on facebook! And be sure to check out PreK+K Sharing EEE!

Planting in the Classroom!

Hi! It's Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.  This month, I put together some of my favorite planting activities to use in the classroom.  I'm ready for spring- and I'm going to make my own if I have to! Actually, it's been a gorgeous  winter in Upstate NY, so I can't even complain. 


First, this project makes me smile every year.  I like to do this project before St. Patrick's Day.  We usually have Open House around this time, too, which is perfect because parents can take these home after Open House. 

CRAZY HAIR PEOPLE

 We plant our grass seed to make our Crazy Hair People.  I take everyone's picture up close and print them 3X5.  I use two sided tape to stick the pictures onto the styrofoam cups.  The hair usually grows very quickly, which is so much fun.  I have some little tiny rubber bands that the girls love to use to make pony tails.  The boys love to give themselves haircuts.

 This little guy's dad took the time to send me a picture of his first "haircut."  

Here's another fun grass activity!  I saved this picture a long time ago- with no reference to go with it.  If it's your idea, let me know, and I'll gladly add it to this post.  I love the idea.  Even the kids' first initial would be cute.  I'm thinking you could even use Styrofoam meat containers, even though they're thin.  Grass doesn't need too much soil to grow in.  

GRASS LETTERS

LUPINES

I love to introduce my children to Miss Rumphius right before  Earth Day.

This is such a thoughtfully written book that lets children begin thinking of different ways they can make the world more beautiful. After we read the story, I had the children retell it. We talked about the three things Alice wanted to do in her life : 1)  travel to far away places, 2) live by the sea, and 3) make the world more beautiful. We had a great discussion about why it is so important for each of us to do something to make the world more beautiful.  I found some good discussion questions here for the story.  (The questions are written for 8-11 year olds, but some were perfect for 'turn and talks' and class discussions.  I had fun listening to the conversations when the children  did 'turn and talks'.   Kindergarten children are very wise.  

The children were anxious to write about how they could each make the world more beautiful. I loved some of the answers!

  (Hunter LOVES the color melon pink- so he is going to paint all the roads! :)

 And finally...  How could that smile not make the world a better place? 

Next we decorated our planting cups with lupines.  I showed them how to make one dot, then two, three, four, and five.

Then, we planted our seeds!

We also made a poster for our room to help us remember what we need to do!

The timing of our Miss Rumphius Day could not have been more perfect this year. The very next day, my dear friend from Texas sent me these pictures... having no idea of her perfect timing!

Where I live,  lupines will grow if I am very attentive to them and baby them, but my friend Betty is surrounded in Texas with GLORIOUS Texas BlueBonnets! 

FORGET-ME-NOTS

Last year, we planted forget-me-not seeds for Grandparent's Day.  We decorated the cups that we planted in by drawing on forget-me-not flowers with Sharpies. We also made cards that said, "Forget-me-nots for unforgettable grandparents!"  to go with the plants.

MORNING GLORIES

I wrote a post at my blog all about growing morning glories in my classroom!  Just click on the picture below if you'd like to see what I do with morning glories.  I absolutely love growing them in the classroom. 

BEANS

I also wrote a post HERE about Jack and the Beanstalk, and all the different activities I do with that story.  We have so much fun with Jack and the Beanstalk!  The kids love growing the beans!

SUNFLOWERS

At the end of the year, as my sweet class is getting ready to think ahead to first grade, I like to plant sunflower seeds with them.  We talk about the fact that when their flower is grown and blooming, they will be ready for first grade and a brand new year of school.

This is a cute story we read to go along with our planting. 

I wrote this poem to go along with their plantings.  

AMARYLLIS

Finally, in the winter, I love to plant an amaryllis bulb in the classroom.  You can get them for about $5 at Walmart or different stores.  They are so easy to plant- and great for measuring, because they grow so fast. The kids can take a measurement each day and see what happens.  Plus, it brings a little joy to the room in the cold, gray winter.

We have lots of fun and do lots of learning with the amaryllis.

This isn't my amaryllis, but I couldn't find the pictures I took of mine.  Mine looked just like this one.  They are no-fail, and always so gorgeous!

I hope you found some fun ideas to use in your classroom!  Thank you for stopping by!