Every Tree for Itself Game

CCC Teachers and students playing the game "Every Tree for Itself."

NPS Photo / Ranger Hollie Lynch

Materials to play the game:

• Bag of Popsicle sticks
• Some markers
• Paint or crayons
• Yourself

Step 1:

Create the tree’s needs such as water, sunlight, nutrients, oxygen and carbon.
*You’ll want to paint or color with crayon or marker, the Popsicle sticks to match the need:

• You are the Tree
  • Your arms are the branches
  • Your feet are the roots
• Blue represents water
• Yellow represents sunlight
• Green represents nutrients:
  • Nitrogen
  • Oxygen
  • Carbon dioxide

 

Step 2:

Parents or other kids can take turns giving the signal to start. Set the time for a minute for the trees to reach with their roots and branches (arms and legs) to gather as many requirements as they can under this time limit. When the time is up, have the trees count how many of each requirement they gathered.

Step 3:

Parents may assist in having a follow up session with the game to discuss the results and the importance of the results:

• How many requirements did each tree get?
• Do any trees lack a particular requirement?
• What might happen to a real tree that lacked one of its requirements?
• Is there such a thing as too much water, sunlight, or nutrients?
• Would trees grow in an area that didn’t have much rainfall? Or sunlight?