Why do trees have bark?

With the senior kindergartens this week, we have done some investigations involving trees this week during our outdoor education time.

We started off by taking a look at the tree, specifically the bark. We talked about why the tree has bark, and what part of our body the bark is like. Trees have a system much like our veins that transport tree sap (like our blood). The bark is like our skin, or maybe even our jacket, it protects us. Like humans, bark can be very different tree to tree.

Focussing their observations. They noted different shapes, colours, different lines, texture, etc.

Next, we played a fun game...Find The Tree. Each student got a blindfold and another student led them to a tree where they were only to use their sense of touch to identify the tree. Their partner led them back to our gathering place, then they had to see if they could find their tree.

We then completed some bark rubbings with different trees noting the different bark.