Preschool Winter Activities with Evergreen Trees

Hands-on learning is a must for preschoolers (and kiddos of all ages, for that matter)! So when my students and I were talking about evergreen trees, I knew I wanted to bring the real things into our classroom. Below are some preschool winter activities the kiddos and I got into to learn more about evergreen trees.

close up of four activities with evergreen trees and the text 'preschool evergreen theme'

preschool winter activities to learn about evergreens

Evergreen exploration in the science center
I placed a variety of items in our science area for a week or two. Pine cones and pine branches came from some trees near me, and we had a variety of tiny pine cones in our school workroom. Since I had this science concept running during December, I was able to get my hands on some fir tree branches and a bit of the tree trunk.

preschool winter activities with evergreen trees

I placed some of the branches in a glass vase and a mason jar. I thought they looked pretty festive in the window by our science center! The other evergreen items were placed on one of the many wooden trays we have in the science area. The kiddos smelled the branches, felt the pine and fir needles, “dissected” some of the pine cones, and examined the trunk piece with magnifying glasses. They also counted and sorted the pine cones and integrated the pine cones into pretend play.

preschool winter activities exploring evergreen trees in the science center

Process art with evergreens
I love love love how this piece of art turned out! The children and I had fun working together on this piece of art for our classroom. Read about how we did it HERE.

preschool winter activities with evergreen trees - collaborative pine art

Evergreen branches on the sensory table
As I mentioned above, I was given extra fir tree branches where I purchased my Christmas tree. I placed the large branches in our Messy Room’s sensory table. Some of the children really got into examining the branches and needles with magnifying glasses. Others had fun using tweezers to take the needles off the branches. Personally, I loved how it made the room smell.