Trees and woodlands can be used to identify seasonal patterns as well as highlight key physical vocabulary. Pupils can also use the simple fieldwork and observational examples suggested below to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment. This is a key element of the KS1 National Curriculum.

Download this page as a PDF

• Using the school grounds or local park take images of individual trees in silhouette. Consider how these might change throughout the day or year. Add the images to a map. This could be done digitally on Digimaps or Google Earth.

• Think about the habitats that a tree or forest provides at different times within their life cycles.

• Write descriptive words on post-it notes and stick them to a tree. Take some of your favourite words and create a descriptive sentence or poem with them.

• Use leaves or twigs to create a piece of art that reflects how you feel about being in a woodland. You could find out about artist Andy Goldsworthy who has used trees in his work.

• Collect some artefacts from a woodland and another (contrasting) environment such as a beach or a field. Compare and contrast them.

• Use trees as an example of a tall landscape feature and explore what the world looks like from a worm or an ant’s perspective. What about a bird flying over the woods – what would they see?

The Geographical Association (GA) has worked closely with the Field Studies Council (FSC) to develop these resources.