Pam White’s Tree ID game

Actions

Sycamore.

  • Pretend to be sick.
  • Put index finger in air and turn it in little circles.
  • Say “helicopters”

Holly

  • Put finger and thumb together to make a berry shape.
  • Say “little red berries”
  • Touch sides of your head with thumbs, keeping berry shape.

Point the rest of the fingers away from your head.

  • Say “ the leaves are prickly, prickly,prickly.”

Rowen

  • Find a partner.
  • Stand side by side and pretend to row.
  • When moving backwards
  • Say “ rowen”
  • When moving forward
  • Say “little red berries”

Elder

  • Place your fingers on your cheaks and run them down towards your chin, like you have wrinkles.
  • Say “ wrinkly bark”
  • Pretend to pick a leaf and smell it.
  • Say “yuk!”
  • Lift up your hand as though you have a glass in it, put towards your lips.
  • Say “nice wine”

Horse chestnut

  • Put your arms out and open your fingers wide.
  • Say “big leaves like hands”
  • Keep your arms out and pretend you have muscles.
  • Say “big strong tree”
  • Put your hands together to make a ball shape.
  • Say “big brown conkers”.

Silver Birch

  • Lift your arms above your head and drop your hands.
  • Say “long drooping branches”
  • Join palms together above your head.
  • Say “this is the shape of the leaves “
  • Rub your hand back and to across your tummy.
  • Say “Shiny, silvery bark”

Oak

  • Put your arms out to show you have muscles.
  • Say “ big strong tree “
  • Move your hands up and down your legs, making wave movements.

While you are moving your arms, make your knees go in and out like they are made of jelly.

  • Say “ Oak leaves have wobbly sides”
  • Place your hands on your head then bring them around the sides of your face.

When you get to your chin place one hand on your head like a little cap.

  • Say “ this is the shape of an acorn and this is their little cap”

Hazel

  • Pull your hair out to make it look spiky.
  • Say “ hairy leaves “
  • Gnash your teeth.
  • Say “Has large teeth around the leaves “
  • Pretend to mix jam in a jar, then spread it.
  • Say “yum, yum hazel nut spread”

Weeping Willow

  • Bend over and dangle your arms to the ground, then start to sway.
  • Say “boo who who, boo who who”
  • Pretend to turn the tap on.
  • Say “ I like water, I like water “

Alder

  • Put your hands out in front of you, and join your hands. Turn around once.
  • Say “blunt , round leaves “
  • Pretend to eat an ice cream cone.
  • Say “ it has nice little cones “

Hawthorn

  • Cross your arms and hold the hand of the person next to you.
  • Lift your arms up and down.
  • Say “ now we have made a hawthorn hedge “
  • Make a V shape with your arms.
  • Say “this is the shape of the leaves at their base “
  • First join your finger and thumb together, then flap like a bird, next rub your arms as if you were cold.
  • Say “lots of red berries for the birds in winter “ x2

Beech

  • Join your hands by placing your two thumbs and two index fingers together. Push them together to make a teardrop.
  • Say “ the beech nut is pointed “
  • Point to your hair then your coat.
  • Say “ it has a hairy jacket “
  • Polish the table.
  • Say “ the leaves are smooth and shiny “

Ash

  • Put your hands on your shoulders and move your arms in circles.
  • Say “the leaves grow in opposite pairs “
  • Put your fingers together to make the shape of a dome. Draw the curtains and point to the sky.
  • Say “ the buds are as black as the night sky “
  • Dangle your fingers at your sides.
  • Say “the seeds are long and thin “

Elm

  • Put your hands around your throat.
  • Say “this tree often dies because of Dutch Elm disease “
  • Draw a circle on your palm then place one palm over the other.
  • Say “ the seed pods are round and they look like they have been squashed “

Information for cards

Sycamore

  • Height to 38 metres.
  • Bark is dark grey with curling square scales.
  • Leaves have five lobes.
  • Seeds fall like helicopter blades.
  • Used for- musical instruments and kitchen utensils.

Holly

  • Height to 23 metres.
  • Bark is dull grey and often warty.
  • Leaves are dark green and spiky.
  • It produces bright red berries in autumn.
  • Used for- turning and engraving

Rowan or Mountain Ash

  • Height to 18 metres.
  • Bark is pale grey and smooth, later it has a network of ridges.
  • Leaves have jagged edges and are opposite each other.
  • Produce red berries.
  • Used for- turning.

Elder

  • Height to 10 metres.
  • Bark is grey- brown, soft, corky with vertical ridges.
  • Leaves smell when squeezed.
  • Snap a branch and you will see soft foam like centre.
  • Edible flowers and berries, often used in wine making.

Horse Chestnut

  • Height to 39 metres.
  • Bark is res-brown or dark grey-brown with long plates.
  • Leaves have five to seven separate elongated leaflets.
  • It produces conkers which are protected by a round spiky outer casing.
  • Used for-turning and playing conkers

Silver Birch

  • Height to 30 metres.
  • Bark is shiny red-brown going to pink-white and later grey with horizontal band.
  • Leaf stalk is red and the leaf is jagged.
  • Seeds look like lambs tails.
  • Used for- plywood, turning, furniture, besom brooms, packing cases,

aircraft frames and pulp for writing paper.

In years gone by the native American Indians made canoes’ out of the bark.

Oak

  • Height to 38 metres.
  • Bark is pale grey and cracked into short narrow vertical planes.
  • Leaves are multi lobed and have an elongated shape.
  • Produces acorns.
  • Used for- structural work, in joinery, furniture, gates, flooring,

barrels, smoking food and a good place for wild life.

Hazel

  • Height to 10 metres.
  • Bark is shiny grey-brown with small, curling strips.
  • Leaves are hairy with a sirrated edge.
  • Produces hazel nuts.
  • Used for- fencing hurdles, charcoal, thatching spars and has edible nuts.

Weeping Willow

  • Height to 12 metres.
  • Bark is pale grey to grey-brown with shallow thick ridges.
  • Trees often found neer water.
  • Leaves are long and thin, often pale green.
  • Used for- basket work, cricket bats, clogs, charcoal and pegs.

Common Alder

  • Height to 20 metres.
  • Bark is grey-brown with square plates.
  • Leaver are round and blunt, dark green with short stalks.
  • Produces small open cones.
  • Used for- plywood, posts, turning, clogs and charcoal.

Hawthorn

  • Height 15 metres.
  • Bark is dark orange-brown with narrow rectangular plates.
  • Leaves are divided into lobes and are taperd towards the base.
  • Produces red hard berries.
  • Used for- hedging.

Beech

  • Height to 40 metres.
  • Bark is silver grey and smooth, with fine ripples.
  • Leaves are shiny and smooth.
  • Produces edible nuts, often eaten by pigs.
  • Used for- Furniture, kitchen tools, flooring and vaneers.

Ash

  • Height to 30 metres.
  • Bark is pale grey and smooth, later has interwoven ridges.
  • Leaves Leaves grow in opposite pairs on the twig.
  • Produces hanging clussters of seed pods.
  • Used for- vertical frames, sports equipment,tool handles and steem bent work for furniture and boats.

Elm

  • Height to 40 metres.
  • Bark is dark brown-grey, with small flakes and thick ridges.
  • Leaves are hairy with a pointed tip and sirrated edges.
  • Produces clusters of flat round seed pods.

Used for- wet dock work, boats, coffins, furniture, flooring and turning.

Fire wood

Tinder Quick cooking soft wood

Birch bark Ash

Dry holly leaves Pine

Dead bracken Apple

Wood shavings Holly

Dry grass Hazel

Slow burning, Wood no good to burn

Long lasting Elder

hard wood Chestnut

Oak Poplar

Beech Willow

Birch

Maple

Sycamore