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This week's LabZone activity
April 12, 2006
How Old Was That Tree?
Find a tree stump and count its rings. Each ring is one year in the life of that tree. Many trees are as old as 500 to 1,000 years old!
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Look at each ring—is it thin or thick? When a ring is thin, the tree didn't grow much that year. This could be due to lack of rain or an early winter. If the ring is thick, the tree probably received a lot of water; there were good growing conditions that year. Look for dark rings. If you find a ring that is darker than the others, the tree probably survived a forest fire.
Count back to the year you were born. Can you find it? See if you can find a tree with 100 rings. Isn't it amazing how long it takes a tree to grow only a few inches around? Look for the years your mother and father were born, too.
There are many stories that the stump can tell. How many can you find?
Reprinted with permission from Kids Camp: Activities for the Backyard or Wilderness by Laurie Carlson and Judith Dammel. Published by Chicago Review Press, distributed by Independent Publishers Group (www.ipgbook.com). Copyright © 1995 by Laurie Carlson and Judith Dammel.
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