Forests offer endless opportunities for exploration with children. Project Learning Tree® (PLT), the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, helps educators take students outdoors and into the woods to experience nature and learn about the importance of forests. To help bring global attention to America’s forests, educators and students around the country compiled and decorated a “Forest Exchange Box” to showcase the unique characteristics of America’s woodlands. To view a picture of a box from your state, and some of the students that compiled them, check out the photo gallery of PLT’s Forest Exchange Boxes.
Kicking it off in January 2011, students from Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, and New Mexico shared their state’s unique forest heritage on the world stage when the box they created and decorated went on display at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Their displays were seen by UN Delegates and U.S. Administration officials attending a special UN Forum on Forests meeting and reception to launch 2011 International Year of Forests. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Rick Barton, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, drew the audience’s attention to these boxes and said, “We hope you stop, take a look, and reflect on America's incredible biodiversity.”
Throughout the year, Forest Exchange Boxes from every state were displayed at venues across the country to celebrate International Year of Forests.
Your Students Can Create and Exchange a Forest Box
Students of any grade level, their teachers, and others passionate about forests, can compile and decorate a Forest Exchange Box. A box can include natural objects; examples of tree and wood products we use every day; student poems, drawings, sound and video recordings, and more! Through these boxes we learn who owns and manages forests; the benefits we get from forests – like clean air, water, and recreation; and how individuals and communities use, enjoy, and depend on forests.
Classes of students can gather samples of items from their forest (including their recordings, writings, and drawings) and exchange their own forest box with another school in a different part of the United States. If you are interested in participating, a copy of the specially designed PLT Activity 20 “Environmental Exchange Box” and information about finding an exchange partner is available online from the PLT website at www.plt.org. Also read “PLT’s Environmental Exchange Box Activity Provides an Array of Teaching and Learning Opportunities” for some ideas and examples of the many opportunities this PLT activity provides to connect students’ learning to multiple subject areas.
