Here’s a wonderful infographic to help you and your kiddos identify 60 different trees by their fall leaves!
The poster (courtesy of MJ Sales Umbrellas, which has a surprisingly helpful blog) helps kids learn about simple versus compound leaves, palmate versus pinnate leaves, and lobed versus not lobed leaves (see the drawings at the top). Leaf ID is also a great way to learn about symmetry, as some trees and their leaves are symmetrical and some are not.
Some of the trees kids can learn to identify by their leaves are willows, hawthorns, ginko and horsechestnut. Many trees that can be harvested for foods are featured too, such as apple, mulberry, pear, white oak (for acorns, if you leach out the bitter tannins) and peach trees, among others. (If you’d like to learn more about foraging with your kiddos, you can check out some of our foraging posts on our family foraging and sustainable living blog here).
Kids can take rubbings of all different tree leaves and see how many they can ID and collect. They can also try preserving them and use them for crafts.
This is also a great way to ID trees now that might be useful in another season, like sugar maple trees to tap for syrup or pear trees to harvest in early fall next year.
How many are in your neck of the woods?