Arbor Day Celebration

1. Hike Through a Forest

Find a nearby trail in a forest (or park) and go for a walk, hike, or bike ride. Natural settings are effective in lowering stress. Exercising outdoors compared to exercising indoors helps people feel more revitalized, engaged with others, and less tense.

2. Online Nature Learning

When you can’t make it outdoors, stay in and learn about it. Carly’s Kids Corner is full of fun and educational resources to connect children with nature. The site includes interactive games that highlight that value of trees.

3. Draw Your Favorite Trees

This is a great activity to do with young ones. Bring out the colored pencils and crayons and start drawing your best artwork.

4. Nature-based Crafts

Indoor days are perfect for arts and crafts. Pinterest is full of creative ideas for crafts made with natural materials like pine cones, needles, leaves, and twigs. See what you can find in your backyard and let your imagination get to work.

5. Plant a Tree

Can one ever have too many trees? Whether you find a tree from a local nursery, nothing says Arbor Day like planting a tree. The tree you plant will benefit your whole community. Times like these remind us of the importance of healthy communities.

6. Become a Member of the Arbor Day Foundation

When you become a member of the Arbor Day Foundation, you support tree planting efforts around the globe. In addition to supporting something greater, your membership includes discounted trees from the Tree Nursery, our bi-monthly newsletter, and a copy of the Tree Book.

There is a lot of uncertainty in the air. Although we don’t know what the coming weeks look like, it’s still important to take time to pause, relax, and continue to celebrate the good things. Trees are proven to reduce stress and improve well-being. If ever there was a time for trees, now is that time.

Arbor Day is a great holiday to celebrate with the whole family. For some fun activities to do with your kids, check out arborday.org/kids. There you'll find digital games and resources as well as printable activity sheets.

Benefits of Trees: What can a tree do for you? A lot! Check out all the great things trees do for us every day.

Trees Around the World: A great way to learn about different tree species and where to find them!

Leaf ID: Match the leaf to the tree it belongs to!

Life of a Tree: You can tell a lot about a tree just by taking a closer look at the trunk.

Photosynthesis: Take a visual journey to learn how plants make their own food!

Junior Arborist: Test your tree knowledge!

Arbor Day was first celebrated almost 150 years ago in what is now Nebraska. By 1920, more than 45 states and territories were celebrating the holiday. Nationally, the most common date for Arbor day is the last Friday in April, but a number of states (including Washington!) celebrate Arbor Day in other months.

Read the full history of Arbor Day: https://www.arborday.org/celebrate/history.cfm

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Trees help soak up and filter pollutants out of stormwater. Stormwater is rain that does not soak into the ground. Stormwater runoff happens when stormwater flows over impervious surfaces that it can't soak through, such as paved roads, driveways, yards, and rooftops. Harmful pollutants enter our local streams and rivers and the Puget Sound through stormwater runoff.

For more information, click HERE.