Last week, the Arnold Arboretum had a family fun day with lots of awesome activities including a scavenger hunt! Wanna look for trees with us? First, we get a "Tree Adventure" booklet with 9 clues.
Each clue describes a tree and gives us some general directions of where to find it. Once we find the tree, we hunt around it to find the stamp box. We stamp our book, turn the page, and follow the next clue. Ready?
Clue #1: Just across the road you will find our logo tree hanging out by the sunflowers.
This is a 90-foot tall dawn redwood and is represented on the Arboretum's logo.
It's also 130 years old! And look at that amazing trunk....
Clue #3: Be on the lookout for a large shrub with puffs like cotton candy.
Did I ever mention that trees are weird? Well, this one certainly is. It looks like it's got giant tree lint stuck in it or something. These are actually flowers and bracts. When a tree like this has a whole bunch of them, it looks like puffs of smoke, which is why this tree is called the smoketree.
Clue #4: This tree is covered with pods shaped like lanterns.
This one was hard. We walked by it several times before we decided that these things might look like lanterns. It's called the goldenrain tree for the golden-yellow flowers that fall from it in summer. Hmmm, let's hope the next one is easier.
Clue #5: Look for a tree with its "knees" in the water!
That's got to be it there right by the pond! The kids are already there. But they can't find the box! That's because it's really this tree, the bald cypress, on the other side of the pond. Doh!
Clue #6: Find the tree with pink flowers and fern-like leaves.
Do you know what a sassafras tree looks like? I didn't, but we found it. Did you know that it has three different shaped leaves?
It's got oval leaves, leaves with three lobes and some that have just two lobes and kind of look like a mitten. Neat!
Clue # 8: Find the only grape vine in the vine collection with red leaves.
We found this one because others were already hanging out by it doing their stamps. Otherwise we might have had to look around a while. I love the vine garden though. And so does my daughter, who fell in love with the wisteria the last time we came here.
Clue #9: Look for three large, purple-leaf trees.
The middle one of the three was our final stop on the scavenger hunt. It was a huge beech tree with leaves that hung so low we had to crouch to get underneath it to the stamp box.
Wasn't that fun? The kids all got little prizes for completing their books. For you, I have some free tree clip art to enjoy, which you can download at crafty jenny:
Thanks for hunting for trees with me!
Each clue describes a tree and gives us some general directions of where to find it. Once we find the tree, we hunt around it to find the stamp box. We stamp our book, turn the page, and follow the next clue. Ready?
Clue #1: Just across the road you will find our logo tree hanging out by the sunflowers.
This is a 90-foot tall dawn redwood and is represented on the Arboretum's logo.
It's also 130 years old! And look at that amazing trunk....
Clue #3: Be on the lookout for a large shrub with puffs like cotton candy.
Did I ever mention that trees are weird? Well, this one certainly is. It looks like it's got giant tree lint stuck in it or something. These are actually flowers and bracts. When a tree like this has a whole bunch of them, it looks like puffs of smoke, which is why this tree is called the smoketree.
Clue #4: This tree is covered with pods shaped like lanterns.
This one was hard. We walked by it several times before we decided that these things might look like lanterns. It's called the goldenrain tree for the golden-yellow flowers that fall from it in summer. Hmmm, let's hope the next one is easier.
Clue #5: Look for a tree with its "knees" in the water!
That's got to be it there right by the pond! The kids are already there. But they can't find the box! That's because it's really this tree, the bald cypress, on the other side of the pond. Doh!
Clue #6: Find the tree with pink flowers and fern-like leaves.
Do you know what a sassafras tree looks like? I didn't, but we found it. Did you know that it has three different shaped leaves?
It's got oval leaves, leaves with three lobes and some that have just two lobes and kind of look like a mitten. Neat!
Clue # 8: Find the only grape vine in the vine collection with red leaves.
We found this one because others were already hanging out by it doing their stamps. Otherwise we might have had to look around a while. I love the vine garden though. And so does my daughter, who fell in love with the wisteria the last time we came here.
Clue #9: Look for three large, purple-leaf trees.
The middle one of the three was our final stop on the scavenger hunt. It was a huge beech tree with leaves that hung so low we had to crouch to get underneath it to the stamp box.
Wasn't that fun? The kids all got little prizes for completing their books. For you, I have some free tree clip art to enjoy, which you can download at crafty jenny:
Thanks for hunting for trees with me!
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