Young girl is reading Dr. Seuss' "Hop on Pop"

Story Time - The Giving Tree

Activity 1: Feeling Fruity - Making Fruit Prints at Home

fruit art

1. Find a flat surface, such as a table, where you can make this project.

2. Choose your favorite fruit (apples and oranges work well).

3. Get an adult to cut your fruit in half; now you have two fruit stamps to play with.

4. Use the dull end of a bamboo skewer or toothpick to make designs on your fruit stamp. Some fruits, such as citrus, already have great natural patterns and you can use them as they are.

5. Use whatever paint you have at home and press the fruit stamp into the paint, stamp side down. When your stamp is covered in a thin, even layer of paint, press your fruit stamp onto thick, absorbent paper. Experiment and have fun!

Activity 2: Tree Time

Tree

Being under a tree is a multi-sensory experience. Take a moment to pick a tree that lives near you, and spend some time under it.

What do you notice about the temperature under its branches? How does it make your body feel? Take a deep breath. What can you smell? How does the tree bark feel when you touch it? What sounds do the leaves make? How does the tree feel when you hug it?

Hug the tree and think of the first three words you would use to describe your new tree friend.

Then ask a friend or family member to do the same. You just wrote a tree time poem together!

Submit your poems to #TheHAtHome

Activity 3: Tell a Tree

Tree

Trees can be some of the largest living things on Earth, and some can live more than 1,000 years. From the tallest kauri tree in California to the smallest of bonsai, The Huntington has over 3,100 trees in its collection.

Life on this planet would not be possible without trees, from the air we breathe, the shelters we make, and the food that nourishes us and other animals.

If you could tell a tree why you love them, what would you say?

Dear Tree, I'd like to thank you for __________.

Share what you would tell a tree with us at #TheHAtHome.