Professional Learning

This groundbreaking supplementary curriculum unveils a treasure trove of 50 hands-on, cross-disciplinary activities engineered to foster a profound connection between children and the natural world. Each activity includes background knowledge, preparation guidelines, materials, time allocation, step-by-step instructions, student materials, assessment suggestions, and ideas for extending the lesson.

Diverse topics covered include trees and forests, wildlife, water, air, energy, waste, climate change, invasive species, community planning, and more. Activities span the economic, ecological, and social dimensions of environmental issues, encouraging students to develop their capacity for independent thought and nurture critical thinking skills.

Visit Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide for more information.

Project Learning Tree's Green Jobs includes four hands-on, NGSS aligned, instructional activities to help youth research forestry jobs, and practice managing and monitoring forest resources. It is designed for educators, career and guidance counselors, Scouts, 4-H, and FFA leaders, foresters, and job training advisors to use with learners aged 12–25 in settings ranging from community youth programs and school classrooms, to college and career prep.

Treemendous Science! teaches students to explore, experience, observe, and collect tree data to develop a better understanding about how trees grow, the roles trees play in ecological systems, and the ways in which trees and humans interact. Whether you regularly use the outdoors as a classroom or tend to hesitate every time you take your class outside, this unit is an invitation to increase the quantity and quality of your K-2 learners’ contact with nature and trees.

Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children is PLT’s latest resource for families and teachers of ages 1-6. It contains hundreds of ideas for fun, easy-to-do, hands-on experiences to connect young children to nature, with a focus on trees and forests. Through both outdoor and indoor activities, children explore nature through their senses, experience trees throughout all four seasons, and connect with their community.

Hands-On Learning Experiences

The 12 hands-on Trees & Me activities are designed for families and teachers to use with children ages 1–6 in a range of settings, including preschools, childcare centers, and nature centers, at home, or with families and friends spending time together. Special instructions tailor many experiences to children under 3 years of age.

Families and caregivers, childcare providers, and early childhood educators can easily adapt the activities as necessary to meet each child’s unique needs, the environment where they live, and the materials available.

Social and Academic Skills Development

Children learn concepts necessary to succeed in school, including age-appropriate literacy, math, and critical thinking skills. They make music, create things, and gain physical dexterity. They are empowered to work independently and in groups. Through dramatic play and skill practice, they explore careers which plants ideas for a child’s future.

What’s more, research indicates that early exposure to nature and the outdoors improves emotional and physical well-being, enhances learning, promotes positive social behavior, and makes children more likely to care about their environment throughout their lives.

Unable to participate in an in-person workshop? PLT has online training and e-Courses that can be accessed at anytime. For more information, contact Jemima Clark at PLT@maeoe.org.