Leaf Identification w/ the Crew

The Analyst, The Actress and I took a neighborhood tour the other day to identify the kinds of trees that grow around us.  With bucket in hand, we walked the street and took samples (one for each of them) of as many different kinds of trees as we could find.  The first thing that was surprising was there was not a huge amount of variety.  Tons of maple trees…so many in fact that The Actress suggested our road should be named Maple Drive (it’s not; in fact it is named after another tree that we found only one single sample of).  Here are a few pics from our adventure:

The Analyst examining a leaf

The Actress showing off a leaf!

After we got back to the house, they spent some time arranging their leaves into a display and gluing them in place…

Making a collage of leaves from the Neighborhood!

With the leaves secured in place, we found a useful leaf dichotomous key application online.  It was a nice program that was great exposure to the kids of leaf terminology (e.g. venation, teeth, lobes, scales vs. needles, etc.) The Crew was immediately comfortable answering the key’s questions and was quickly having a blast identifying and labeling the leaves they had collected.

Using the Dichotomous Key

With their leaves labeled, the Crew displayed their results for Mom to see in the kitchen when she got home!

In all, it was a great way for the kids to learn a little about the kinds of trees we have in the neighborhood and a great chance to learn a little botany terminology!