Oops, One More... Tree Bingo

Yesterday I finished my Botany Books post and was feeling all proud of myself. Then, walking down the hall at the end of the day to close the door of the Board Games closet, my eye fell upon Laurence King's Tree Bingo.
I pulled out the box, and what do you think was on the front?? Date Palm!

AARGH, I thought. We did that plant last week! But, of course, we can play the game at any time to help review the trees we've learned. Here are all the trees in the box (as with their other games, a fact booklet is included):

Alder (Alnus glutinosa)

Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)

Banyan (Ficus macrophylla)

Basswood (Tilia americana)

Beech (Fagus sylvatica)

Blue Quandong (Elaeocarpus angustifolius)

Bois Dentelle (Elaeocarpus bojeri)

Bottle (Pachypodium lealii)

Candelabra (Euphorbia ingens)

Cedar (Cedrus libani)

Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Coco-de-Mer (Lodoicea maldivica)

Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens)

Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera)

Dragon's Blood (Dracaena cinnabari)

Durian (Durio zibethinus)

Field Maple (Acer campestre)

Frankincense (Bowsellia sacra)

Giant Redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

Grandidier's Baobab (Adansonia grandidieri)

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Hazel (Corylus avellana)

Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia)

Juniper (Juniperus communis)

Kapok (Ceiba pentandra)

Kauri (Agathis australis)

Larch (Larix decidua)

London Plane (Platanus x hispanica)

Madrone (Arbutus menziesii)

Maidenhair (Ginkgo biloba)

Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana)

Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmanniana)

Oak (Quercus robur)

Olive (Olea europaea)

Orange (Citrus x sinensis)

Paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia)

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis)

Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides)

Quiver (Aloidendron dichotomum)

Rainbow Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta)

Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)

Sandbox (Hura cerpitans)

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana)

Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata)

Silver Birch (Betula pendula)

Spruce (Picea abies)

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)

Traveller's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis)

Tulip (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica)

Upas (Antiaris toxicaria)

Walking Palm (Socratea exorrhiza)

Walnut (Juglans regia)

Whistling Thorn (Vachellia drepanolobium)

Wild Apple (Malus sieversii)

Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis)

Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis)

Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra)

Yew (Taxus baccata)

Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis)

What's in My Botany Books

First, I would like to update everyone that I'm no longer an Amazon Affiliate.

I cancelled my entire Amazon account last night after seeing news items about their invasive "About You" page and the new glasses their delivery drivers will be wearing to take constant photos of the path to your front door (that you cannot opt out of) which they can then use to train their humanoid delivery robots. This means that while in the past I spent a lot of time tracking down Amazon links to the specific books I was recommending, I will no longer be supplying links to purchase materials. I get most of my curriculum things used on eBay anyway, but Amazon was so pervasive that I felt those links were actually helpful to people. Now that so many people are boycotting Amazon, there's no reason for me to take the time.

End rant.

Instead of using a prepared Botany curriculum with a specifically laid out scope & sequence, we are just doing plants as they come onto our radar. They drop nuts, bear fruit, change colors, open flowers, give us a rash, etc. And we want to learn about them!

This means I need to look at my Botany books in a new light, and simply note which plants are covered in each. When we choose a plant, I can go to this blog post and hit "Find" to see if I have any resources for it.

The Burgess Book of Nature Lore
by Thornton W. Burgess

chapter 3
"Tommy's Insect Soup" - pitcher plant

I also wrote up a 2023 blog post detailing the Bloodthirsty Plants series.

Animal and Plant Anatomy
11 volume encyclopedia

vol. 1 - apple tree

vol. 2 - diatom, fern

vol. 4 - hawkmoth, honeybee

vol. 6 - marsh grass, mushroom, orchid

vol. 7 - potato

vol. 8 - saguaro cactus, seaweed, sequoia

vol. 10 - Venus flytrap, weevil

Diatoms and mushrooms are not plants, but we may end up talking about them and why they are not plants, so I want to remember that they're included. The hawkmoth and honeybee are pollinators; the weevil is a pest.

Drawing from the Book of Nature
by Dennis Klocek

chapter 11, "The Leaf"

11.1 - pinnate & lanceolate (willow), cordate (violet, morning glory)
11.2 - round or lobe-shaped (mallow), dentate (nettle)
11.3 - white oak, vetch, clover, cranesbill, carrot

chapter 12 - "Algae, Fungi, Lichen, Ferns"

12.1 - algae (bull kelp, fucus "rockweed")
12.3 - fern, horsetail

chapter 13 - "Higher Plants"

13.1 - bean, pussy willow
13.2 - plum - a perfect flower
13.3 - conifer (pine)
13.4 - tree growth
13.5 - venation (sycamore, maple, willow, poplar, birch)
13.6 - foliage shading
13.7 - live oak
13.8 - cottonwood
13.9 - birch
13.10 - fir
13.11 - apple

chapter 14 - "The Flowering Plants"

14.1 - shepherd's purse, cranesbill, storksbill
14.2 - crucifer (radish, burnip, mustard, cabbage, broccoli)
14.3 - bulbs (narcissus, jonquil, daffodil, crocus, amaryllis)
14.4 - rose
14.6, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9 - grasses (oat)
14.10 - legumes (peas, lentils, peanuts, beans)
14.11 - composites (sunflower, zinnia)

New Eyes for Plants: A Workbook for Observing and Drawing Plants
Margaret Colquhoun & Axel Ewald

an absolutely lovely book of seasonal art lessons!

chapter 1 - Late Autumn
potato, beech, groundsel, rose

chapter 2 - Winter
iceflowers, hogweed, oak

chapter 3 - Early Spring
snowdrop, horse chestnut, beech, tulip, daffodil, groundsel

chapter 4 - Late Spring / Early Summer
broad bean, sunflower, groundsel, cuckoo flower, musk mallow, charlock

chapter 5 - Midsummer
chamomile, peony, sow thistle, dog-rose, creeping buttercup, columbine

chapter 6 - Early Autumn
apple, beech, horse chestnut, wild cherry, vetch, buttercup, rose

chapter 7

yarrow, chrysanthemum, bramble, hawthorn

metamorphosis within the Brassica family:
Brussels sprout, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi

metamorphosis within the Rose familiy:
apple, rosehip, strawberry, blackberry, cherry

For my notes doing this block using Thomas Elpel's books, see Resources & Presentation Order for Plant Families. In that 2021 block I focused on Shanleya's Quest & Shanleya's Quest 2: Botany Adventure at the Fallen Tree

Matching Memory Games - Botany Edition

While working on my Botany planning for October, I found an old note about a Horse Chestnut card in Match a Leaf: A Tree Memory Game.

That inspired me to inventory all the plants included in all three Botany memory games!

First up we have Gardener's Match, which is largely a matching game between the whole plant and the edible food it produces. In an interesting twist, there are also two special cards (poison ivy & stinging nettle). If you turn over one, you lose your turn. If you turn over both, you lose the game!

Next up we have Double Take: Plants & Flowers. To the best of my knowledge, this game is out of print. An old copy was donated years ago.

In this matching game you pair the image of a flower with its close up.

The set includes Wonder Flower, Amaryllis, Hibiscus, Rose, Mum, Aster, Painted Daisy, Transvaal Daisy, Bougainvillea, Blue Hydrangea, Wax Plant, Loosestrife, Iris, Carnation, Lantana, Friesia, Hypericum, Blue Tit, Cyclamen, Flamingo Plant, Snap Dragon, Star Lily, Day Lily, Peruvian Lily, Moth Orchid, Sunflower, Scarlet Trumpet, Marigold.

Finally we have Match a Leaf: A Tree Memory Game. Like Gardener's Match, this game is made by Laurence King! Here you match the entire tree -- helpful for practicing identifying trees at a distance -- with a leaf picture.

The set includes

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Grandidier's Baobab (Adansonia grandidieri)

Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana)

European White Birch (Betula pendula)

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata)

European Chestnut (Castanea sativa)

Swamp Gum (Eucalyptus regnans)

European Beech (Fagus sylvatica)

European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)

English Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

English Walnut (Juglans regia)

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Olive (Olea europaea)

Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

London Plane (Platanus x hispanica)

English Oak (Quercus robur)

Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra)

Sassafras Tree (Sassafras albidum)

Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)

Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)

Scotch Elm (Ulmus glabra)

Now when I search my blog for the name of a particular plant, this post will pop up and I will remember that I have these resources!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Practical Botany in October

It's easiest for me to write up my notes in pieces, updating as we go along. Here, if you missed it, is my topic overview post: Notes on Practical Botany.

Now, on to the plants!

Milkweed

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

read Monarch and Milkweed by Helen Frost

look at dried milkweed pods & milkweed seeds

make Abstract Textile Seedpods from Making Zen workshop

nature sketch

add to MLB under Botany Basics (Seed Dispersal)




for more on Seed Dispersal

Seeds Move! by Robin Page

Bur Oak

Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)

field trip to Superblock to pick up bur oak acorns & acorn caps

nature sketch

add to MLB under Tree Identification
note: oak wood is traditionally used in barrel making aka cooperage

The Mighty Bur Oak: Sentinel Tree of the Prairie Peninsula
Agricultural Electronic Bulletin Board, University of Missouri Extension

Another Gift from Oaks
International Oak Society

Judean Date Palm

Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera)

read A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

read The Miracle Seed by Martin Lemelman

open a fresh date to find its seed

nature sketch

add to MLB under Botany Basics (Germination)



Six New Ancient Date Trees
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies


for more on Germination

Morning Glories by Sylvia Johnson (pp.14-15, 36-41)
available FREE at Internet Archive



terminology:
cotyledon, monocot, dicot, seed coat, embryo, endosperm

Osage Orange

Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera)

look at osage orange fruit and thorny branches

learn interesting facts about this tree - three links below

learn the term "dioecious" and cut open a fruit to see if the female tree it came from was pollinated (does it contain seeds?)

experiment with using osage orange as a natural dye

nature sketch

add to MLB under Tree Identification

note: due to its nasty spines, osage orange was widely planted as fencing to define property lines until the introduction of barbed wire (thus the name "hedge-apple")

Pruning the Osage Orange Trees
Martha Stewart

Natural Dyes - Harvesting Osage Orange
Folk Fibers

Osage Oranges in Peñasquitos Canyon
Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve

Persimmon

American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

look at persimmon tree, leaf, fruit, and seeds

recipe?
here is my 2024 post of Persimmon Recipes

nature sketch

add to MLB under Special Plants - Edible

How Do Persimmons Breed?
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Flower Dissection with Emily
Lowell Land Trust

terminology:
perfect flower, monoecious, dioecious

Chestnut

Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima)
American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)
European Chestnut (Castanea sativa)
Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

look at Chinese chestnut burr and nuts

recipe?
here is my 2023 post of Chestnut Recipes

look at European Chestnut and Horse Chestnut trees in Match a Leaf

look at Chestnut illustration in Tree Bingo

check fact booklet - what kind of chestnut is it?

scientific names matter because they prevent confusion!

nature sketch

add to MLB under Botany Basics (Scientific Name)


Day #2

horse chestnuts are extremely poisonous and MUST NOT be confused with Chinese chestnuts; note that they share the first part of their scientific name with the also-poisonous red buckeye (Aesculus pavia)

sketch Chinese/American chestnut leaves (edible nut) compared to horse chestnut/red buckeye leaves (poisonous nut)

add to MLB under Botany Basics (Simple vs. Compound Leaves)


Match a Leaf: A Tree Memory Game

Cattail

Common Cattail (Typha latifolia)

look at cattails

read From Seed to Cattail by Lisa Owings

put students in pairs, and have them use the index of foraging books to find and share facts about foraging cattails

Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier

Midwest Foraging: 115 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Burdock to Wild Peach by Lisa M. Rose

Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons

nature sketch

add to MLB under Special Plants - Edible

Black Tupelo

Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica)

look at tupelo tree, leaf, and fruit

photosynthesis lesson (how to make a molecule of C₆H₁₂O₆)

discuss Photosynthesis Shutdown: The Chemical Process Behind Fall Color Emergence

Let Sleeping Trees Lie
American Forest Management

When Trees Wake Up
American Forest Management

nature sketch

add to MLB under Botany Basics (Photosynthesis)

Nyssa sylvatica
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

terminology:
photosynthesis, chlorophyll, chloroplast, stomata, glucose, bud break


Day #2

review photosynthesis and tree dormancy, explain capillary action, and watch colored liquid travel up cotton yarn and a coffee filter

add to MLB under Botany Basics (Capillary Action)

terminiology:
capillary action, xylem

Bald Cypress

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

look at bald cypress tree, knees, needles, and cones

discuss this unusual deciduous conifer

nature sketch:
color of tree on Thu Oct 22
color of tree on Mon Oct 26

add to MLB under Tree Identification

Taxodium distichum
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

Notes on Practical Botany

We are beginning our study of Botany! In Waldorf, this is a major grade 5 topic. I have a LOT of resources in my stash already, which can be really overwhelming. So I've decided to just think about one plant at a time.

Since we are focusing -- if at all possible -- on plants that are located near us and doing something interesting at the present moment, I'm going to organize these notes by month. (I'm in the temperate forest in the Northern Hemisphere, so it's early Autumn right now.) We have two Botany MLBs which we will keep out and available all year, in case a plant near us unexpectedly starts doing something interesting. They are tricky that way!

Our two MLBs are divided into two parts each, so four chapters in all:

MLB #1

Botany Basics

Tree Identification

MLB #2

Special Plants - Medicinal

Special Plants - Edible

I even got different MLBs (one with onion skin and one without... both green of course) so that it's easier for the children to tell them apart while we are adding in our information. I'm excited to see how the books come together!

Many thanks to Ms. Megan for the Botany books she's lending us this year:

Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants
by Bradford Angier

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: The Healing Power of Plant Medicine
by Nicole Apelian & Claude Davis

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propogation and Uses
by Micahel Dirr

Midwest Foraging: 115 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Burdock to Wild Peach
by Lisa M. Rose

Special Forces Survival Guide: Wilderness Survival Skills from the World's Most Elite Military Units
by Chris McNab

Stalking the Wild Asparagus
by Euell Gibbons

A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers
by Rita Buchanan

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Botany: Art & Handwork Ideas

It's Making Zen right now and I'm having a great time. I also remembered that there have been several projects over the past 3 years (6 Making Zen conferences) that I mentally tagged as being good possibilities for Botany.

And now we are beginning Botany!

I'm just going to make myself a master list of Art & Handwork Ideas. Feel free to add to it if you found a great online tutorial, or a lesson in a book.

Speaking of books... Drawing from the Book of Nature is KEY for this block. I'll have to make another post listing all of the Botany chapters.

workshops from Making Zen

Amy Maricle

Fine Line Flowers
Oct 2025

watercolor paints: indigo, rose madder, lemon yellow




Mini Watercolor Leaves: Beautiful Botanicals Made Simple
Sep 2026
inspired by Broadhead Arrowleaf

cold press watercolor paper

watercolor paints: indigo, lemon yellow, olive green

Darcy Hunter

Hand-Stitched Red Poppies with 3D Elements
Oct 2025




Painting Fabric with Watercolour and Inktense
Sep 2026

Kristin Peterson

Abstract Textile Seedpods
Sep 2026

inspired by Milkweed

Lisa Goddard

Mixed Media Textile Moth
May 2024

POLLEN: Darwin's 130-Year Prediction by Darcy Pattison

other workshops, tutorials & ideas

Wet Felted Flower
YouTube - Spry Whimsy Fiber Arts

Wet Felted Trumpet Flower
YouTube - Esther's Place


Sycamore Keys
YouTube - Marion's World
embroidery pattern available as a FREE download

here are 11 Trees with Helicopter Seeds (Samara Fruit)

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Whittling

Zac got his first Swiss Army knife yesterday, which is a key milestone for a child. I spent several months thinking about it before deciding that he was old enough. Coincidentally, the age of 11 is actually perfect for learning to whittle because in Waldorf we study Botany in fifth grade. Tree identification!

Once you start working wood with your hands, you realize how absolutely essential tree identification is. This year in Botany we were going to focus on foraging for food and herbal medicines, but I think I will add in tree identification in the context of woodworking as well. See my past blog post Tree Identification and A Reverence for Wood.

I put together a whole pile of books for Zac with woodworking information and projects he might want to tackle. They are

Forest Craft: A Child's Guide to Whittling in the Woodland
by Richard Irvine

The Colonial Woodworker
by Laura Sullivan

Diary of an Early American Boy, Noah Blake
by Eric Sloane (1805)

A Museum of Early American Tools
by Eric Sloane

The Forgotten Arts & Crafts: Skills from Bygone Days
by John Seymour

The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It
by Daniel Carter Beard (1890)

He didn't want to put down The American Boy's Handy Book long enough for me to photograph it. 😊 Let me know if you have others to recommend!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

12 Apple Varieties

Back in October 2007, my daughter Natalie came home from Kindergarten and said that her teacher had given them slices of a new apple variety. The children were to taste it and decide what they would name it if they could. She said the class came up with "Sweet Yummy." That is a great name!

"Sweet Yummy"

"Sweet Yummy" Reprise

Turns out the apple in question was actually Honeycrisp. I've never forgotten that activity, and it made me think of something that we could do tomorrow! I'd love to give the children slices of 12 different apple varieties to compare.

Do all apples taste the same? Which one is your favorite?

This is a great Johnny Appleseed activity, but it also ties in with Botany!

For more on this I recommend Granny Smith Was Not an Apple: The Story of Orchardist Marie Ann Smith by Sarah Glenn Fortson.

We will also likely read the New York Times article from Mar 21, 2026:
After Cosmic Crisp, Scientists Unveil an Apple for the Climate Change Era.

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Local Industry - Fruit

Our fifth Local Industry for Southern Illinois!

timing:

late 1800s - present day

Rendleman Orchards was founded in 1873

Illinois Central Railroad #14713, a ventilated fruit car dating from 1893 (image taken from Wikipedia Refrigerated railroad car article)

Zac, age 3
Greer's Lost Creek Blueberries

resource list:

Peach Festival - Cobden IL
held each August


Apple Festival - Murphysboro IL
held each September


Apple Books blog post


Residents Learn about Production and Marketing of Fruit
Illinois Extension - Jul 15, 2019
Mileur Orchard


We the People: Southern Ill. orchard celebrates 138 years of rich history
KFVS - Mar 23, 2026
Flamm Orchards


Rendleman Orchards celebrate 150 years
The Southern Illinoisan - Jun 29, 2023


Since our special guest is from the 4th generation of the Rendleman farming family, we focused on the story of that farm:


The Transformation of Rural Life: Southern Illinois, 1890-1990
by Jane Adams

"The Rendleman Farm," pp.21-24

"Rendleman Orchards," pp.24-28



All Anybody Ever Wanted of Me Was to Work: The Memoirs of Edith Bradley Rendleman
edited by Jane Adams

art ideas:

Baking Soda Paint
Since this reaction leaves a fuzzy texture, it is perfect for painting peaches! (I like to use this template. Print it, cut it out, and use that to trace a peach shape onto your watercolor paper. Then cut out the watercolor paper shape.)

Positive / Negative Art
This technique workes really well for apples or pears!

special guest:

fruit farmer

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!