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5 Benefits of Cold Weather Play for Children: Boost Their Health & Happiness This Winter
Straining to fit into a boot. Whining about a finger caught in the wrong mitten. Searching for that elusive toque. Getting your kids outside to play...
Trees are amazing plants. They convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, reduce airborne pollutants, bring water into soil, provide homes for wildlife, grow food, and prevent erosion. Trees make our planet, our cities and our families healthier and happier! This list of well written and beautifully illustrated picture books about trees is perfect for growing a child’s curiosity and wonder about these important plants.
Updated: January 2024.
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Twenty-one fun activities that help children connect with trees!
Ages: 6 to 8
An lovely oak tree and the animals that it home journey through the seasons together. As they change and grow throughout the year, a parallel story of a family moving into a new home does the same.
Ages: 5 to 8
Originally published on January 1, 1851, this picture is about how trees are nice. They make the world more beautiful, give shade, grow apples and are great for climbing. A lovely little book brought to life by Marc Simont’s illustrations which won the book a Caldecott Medal award in 1957.
Ages: 3 to 6
A bilingual picture book about a young Cuban-American girl celebrating her fifteen birthday, quinceañera. On the eve of her birthday the girl thinks about the tree her grandmother (abuela) planted after immigrating from Cuba to the United States. and how this tree holds the precious memories of her family members.
Ages: 5 to 8
Emelia wakes up to find a nut on her nightstand. It’s walnut season! The story begins with grandpa retelling the story of how he brought a walnut from his home country and grew it into the large walnut tree. Grandpa shows Emelia how to plant her walnut seed and grow her own tree. As the seedling grows, grandpa’s journey comes to and end. A heartwarming story about the bonds we have with trees and one another.
Ages: 4 to 8
This picture book encourages children to be like a tree. To have strong roots and reach for the sky. To connect with each other. To make the world a better place. A poetic celebration of trees filled with lovely illustrations.
Ages: 4 to 8
Can trees talk to each other? Yes, they can! Based on the internationally best selling book The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate―Discoveries from A Secret World by the same author, this book helps children understand how trees communicate and help one another.
Ages: 8 to 10
Discover how a mother tree protects and nourishes the baby trees of the forest understory, and show young children what it means to care for a community, and for our environment and the earth.
Ages: 3 to 5
A lyrical story about building a treehouse. Magical and beautifully illustrated.
Ages: 3 to 5
Can I please just have on mango, tree? Julie loves to eat mango but no matter how nicely she asks or how hard she tries the mango tree won’t oblige. How will she convince the tree to share its delicious fruit?
Ages: 3 to 6
Trees have a special way of communicating to one another: the underground web! An interesting book about the language a trees for younger children.
Ages: 3 to 6
Little tree doesn’t want to let go of its leaves come autumn… instead little holds on tightly. A heartful story about accepting change and letting go.
Ages: 3 to 6
A story about a little fir sapling and how it communicates with other trees using the wood wide web.
Ages: 3 to 7
A birch tree is loaded onto a truck and everything changes. No longer surrounded by nature, the tree finds itself in a bustling city feeling homesick. A gardener care for the tree and slowly the tree starts to feel better and useful. A book about how change can help us grow.
Ages: 4 to 8
A young boy that recently moved from Korea discovers a plum tree in his backyard. He calls the tree “Plumee” and finds comfort in its presence when he misses Korea. One spring night, after a storm, the plum tree falls down. This gently lyrical story speaks to the experience of children that have immigrated.
Ages: 4 to 8
Many years ago, Nell planted a pecan seed. Now her grandchildren play around the tree and eat pecan pie. A back-and-forth story that goes between Nell planting the tree and her grandchildren enjoying the full grown trees years later. This story is lovely and lyrical, and beautifully illustrated.
Ages: 4 to 8
Ages: 4 to 8
Sylvia celebrates the end of winter by writing a poem about spring and ties it to a birch tree. When she walk past the tree the next day there’s another poem in its place! so begins a sharing of poems between Sylvia and Poetree, only for her to discover…
A lovely book about poetry and friendship.
Ages: 4 to 8
Chocolate tree, rain tree, ghost tree and walking tree, are just a few of the trees highlighted in this collection of stories about strange but real trees from around the world.
Ages: 5 to 8
A counting rhyming poem about the creatures that live in a tall, tall tree living in the old growth redwoods of the northern Californian coast. Filled with vivid illustrations!
Ages: 2 to 5
An interactive book about a magic tree that changes through the seasons. If your child enjoys interactive books like this one, then be sure to check out Matheson’s other books Plant the Tiny Seed: A Springtime Book For Kids and Touch the Brightest Star.
Ages: 2 to 4
A counting boardbook about trees. A fun way to teach babies and toddlers about trees from around the world.
Ages: Baby to 3
Tree: A Rooted History is a book filled with botanist style illustrations of trees from around the world. This book is part history, part botany and part anthropology which makes it a great resource for older children.
Ages: 9 to 12
A rhyming story about trees that is gently educational and filled with dreamy illustrations.
Ages: 2 to 7
Published in 1995 as part of the Take Along Guides, Tree, Leaves & Bark is filled with information about the world of trees. A great reference book that is also part of the Fun With Nature compilation.
Ages: 5 to 9
The world in front of Dani’s building is concrete but in that concrete is hole. One day workers come by and put something into the hole: a tree! A story about how trees in the city can transform, inspire and heal. This book is perfect for families living in cities and reminds me of one of children’s favourite books The Curious Garden.
Ages: 4 to 8
A tale about the great kapok tree, an ancient tree in the Amazon rainforest. Two men come to chop down a great kapok tree, but it isn’t easy. One man takes a break to sleep under the tree, and while he sleeps the animals that live in the great kapok tree whisper into his ear about how important the tree is and why he shouldn’t cut it down. A modern tale about the importance of trees for all that’s filled with detailed and vivid illustrations.
Ages: 4 to 8
What would happen if all the trees decided to leave? This is exactly what happens at the beginning of The Last Tree. The forest disappeared! Soon the animals leave to find them. Goran rushes home from school to stop his favourite tree from leaving too. A tale about the importance of trees and our collective responsibility to care for them.
Ages: 4 to 8
A non-fiction reference book about trees that’s colourful and engaging. A must have book for your home library!
Ages: 4 to 8
Originally published in 1988, this classic book by Gail Gibbons is a must read for younger children. Arnold loves his apple tree. In the spring, he watches the buds grow, burst into flower and set into apples. In the fall he makes apple pies and apple juice. Simple colourful illustrations bring this book to life.
Ages: 3 to 6
A young sapling sprouts but the world of humans is too busy to notice. Fast forward to the future, the trees are disappearing and a girl discovers the seeking tree. Through her choices she can change the future for all.
Ages: 4 to 7
A non-fiction reference book that highlights thirty-tree different trees that grow in North America like the Empress tree, Eastern Redcedar and the Giants.
Ages: 4 to 10
Rumi moves from San Francisco and starts at a new school. Students bully him about his shoes and Rumi feels sad and alone. Rumi finds comfort under the shade of an old willow tree in the schoolyard. There he finds friendship and belonging.
Ages: 4 to 8
Based on a true story! Katherine Olivia Sessions grew up in the forest of Northern California during the 1860s when girls like Kate weren’t suppose to get their hand dirty. Kate loves learning about trees and decided to study science at the University of California. When she became a teacher in San Diego she decided that the city needed trees. She left her job as a teacher and to become a gardener and started planted trees in San Diego. To this day some of the trees and parks that Kate planted still remain.
Ages: 4 to 8
Trees work together! They communicate, cooperate, and form communities. A beautifully illustrated book about the wisdom of trees and the lessons they can teach us.
Ages: 7 to 12
Originally published in 1978, this picture book by Margaret Atwood is rhyming and playful.
Ages: 3 to 6
When Suzanne stays with her grandma she discovers a special tree. Each time she visits the tree she makes a new discovery.
Ages: 3 to 8
Based on the true story of Wangari Maathai who was born in 1940 in the village of Ihithe in Kenya.. As a young child Wangari learns an important lesson “a tree is worth more than its wood”. Remembering these wise words from her mother, Wangari sets out to get her high school diploma and study in the united states. She returns to Kenya and sees the destruction left behinds by the British colonists and now her own people. Determined to make a difference she starts to plant trees and advocates for change. An inspiring story filled with beautiful illustrations.
Ages: 6 to 9
Another book about Wangari Maathai but more suitable for younger children.
Ages: 3 to 9
“We planted a tree and it grew up.” A story about how planting one tree can make the world a better place for all. A beautifully illustrated picture book that portrays people from cultures and countries around the world.
Ages: 3 to 7
On a young girl’s birthday her Grandma gives her a lemon tree, and that’s definitely not what she wanted. As she tries to figure out what to do with the lemon tree she discovers that it might be exactly what she needs. A lovely take on “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” and the blessings of a lemon tree.
Ages: 2 to 7
I wonder who will plant a tree? A fun book that explores how different creatures help to plant trees from squirrels to dolphins.
Ages: 6 to 9
When little Zee is born a Douglas-fir tree at her family’s Christmas tree farm sprouts. Together Zee and her tree grow, experience special moments in parallel.
Ages: 5 to 8
I appreciate the creativity you brought to this project. ❤️
Thanks for these resources! I heartily recommend adding Josh Oaktree’s marvelous “Do you speak tree?” to the list: https://www.oaktreecomics.com/product-page/do-you-speak-tree-hardcover. My little grands love this book and the others in the “Do you speak” series. Thanks!