Christmas Tree Study
In the past, we’ve done more than decorate our tree when we get home. As typical homeschoolers, we studied them!
Each year, Christmas tree lots are full of various types of evergreen trees – pine, fir, and spruce. Did you know the first decorated Christmas was in Riga, Latvia in 1510? When we first started studying Christmas trees, I figured the tradition started earlier than the 1500s.
Let’s learn more Christmas tree facts.
Christmas Tree Facts
- The most popular Christmas trees are scotch pine, white pine, balsam fir, douglas fir, noble fir, and fraser fir.
- Over 25 million Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S.
- For every Christmas tree harvested each year, 1-3 seedlings are planted in its place.
- The average growing time for a Christmas tree is 7 years.
- California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are the top Christmas tree producers in the U.S.
Christmas Tree Science
Christmas trees are interesting. Their leaves don’t turn color, fall off in autumn and come back in the spring like deciduous trees. They keep their green leaves all year long. This makes Christmas trees conifers or evergreens.
The shape of Christmas tree leaves are special, too. They are hard and narrow and called needles. These narrow leaves do not lose much water to evaporation. So, conifers need less water than other trees and can grow in dry places where other trees cannot.
People often collect pine cones. These are the seed carriers of conifers. The seeds are contained inside the scales of the cones until the scales open and the seeds fall to the ground.
Identifying Christmas Trees
Before you go to get your Christmas tree, gather some resources to help you identify the trees you see. If you have an artificial tree, you can still visit a tree farm for an inexpensive field trip. Here are two handy tree identification resources:
- The Arbor Day Foundation has amazing tree identification tools on their website. They have guide books to order, online guides and even an tree ID app (geeky swoon)!
- The National Christmas Tree Foundation has a list of tree types and a brief description.
- Education.com has a Christmas tree identification lesson idea with a simple printable guide.
Christmas Tree Links
- The North Carolina Christmas Trees Association has excellent information about farming Christmas trees.
- The University of Illinois extension has a great Chrismas tree information site with everything from selecting and caring for your tree to Christmas tree facts.
- History.com has an article on the history of Christmas trees.
- North Carolina Christmas Tree Association has lots of activities for children.
- Just for fun, make a felt tree Christmas ornament from Only Passionate Curiosity.
Study Christmas trees with your kids, and you’ll never look at them the same way again!