Collect It

Tall Trees

Start your own collection of bark and leaf rubbings. Here is what you will need:

•    Andy Camper journal
•    masking tape
•    paper that is lightweight
      and light in color
•    wax crayons or chalk
•    glue/tape
•    trees

A tree’s bark is its skin and, like human fingerprints, no two trees have identical bark. Bark is very important because it protects the important tissue that feeds the tree and carries the water from the ground up to the leaves.

All leaves have veins. The veins move water and food from the branch to the leaves. The leaves mix sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make food for the trees.

When you set out to look at a tree’s bark and leaves, you can discover a lot of neat things about the insects, birds or other animals that live in or on the tree. Make a mental note of this information and add it to your book along with the bark and leaf rubbings.

Here are a couple of tips to remember when collecting your rubbings:

Tip #1 – Be careful when working with trees. If you cut under the bark into the tissue of the tree, diseases can sometimes get in and spread around the tree.

Tip #2 – Dried leaves will crumble when you try to take a rubbing of them. Find leaves that are still soft and flexible.

Once you find yourself among the trees prepared to take your rubbings, follow the step-by-step instructions on the right-hand side of this page.