Arkansas has a tree program built just for kids. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture's Shade Trees on Playgrounds (STOP) program gives selected schools up to five Arkansas-native shade trees, plus planting materials and help at a planting ceremony. More than 235 Arkansas schools have taken part, and the program is getting ready for its 25th anniversary. (Arkansas Department of Agriculture via EIN Presswire, Nov. 3, 2026)
This year the schedule is changing. Planting moves from fall to spring: a virtual statewide workshop is set for December 3, applications open in January 2027, and planting ceremonies follow in spring 2027. The goal is simple and smart: less direct sun on kids at recess, and more outdoor space for learning.
That raises a great homeschool question your kids can answer with real data: how much difference does one tree actually make?
What your kids will learn
Trees are one of the best science teachers in your yard. They cool the ground, shelter animals and, as kids are often surprised to learn, can even grow from a single cut twig.
Grades K–5
- The parts of a tree and what each one does: roots, trunk, branches, buds and leaves
- Why shade feels cooler, and how sunlight warms the ground
- That some plants can grow from a piece of a parent plant, not only from seeds
- How to measure, record and compare data in a simple chart
Grades 6–12
- How a tree canopy blocks and absorbs sunlight, and why surfaces heat up differently
- Asexual propagation: why a rooted cutting is a genetic copy of its parent tree
- How plant hormones called auxins help a stem form new roots
- Designing a fair test, controlling variables and graphing results
This week's activity: the shade detective challenge
Pick a sunny day this week and turn your yard, a park or your co-op's playground into a field lab. No purchase needed.
You'll need: a simple outdoor or kitchen thermometer (two if you have them), a watch or phone timer, a notebook and a pencil.
- Predict. Ask each child: "Will it be cooler under a tree than in the open? By how much?" Write every guess down.
- Choose your spots. Find one spot in full sun and one in the shade of a large tree. Keep everything else as similar as you can, like grass in both spots. That's your fair test.
- Take the readings. Lay the thermometer on the ground in the sunny spot, wait five minutes, and record the temperature. Then do the same in the shade.
- Add more surfaces. Older kids can compare sun and shade on grass, bare dirt and a sidewalk. Hold off on touching pavement with bare hands on hot days.
- Repeat. Take readings in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon. Scientists repeat measurements to make sure a result isn't a fluke.
- Chart it. Younger kids can make a bar chart of sun versus shade. Older kids can graph temperature against time of day for each surface.
- Talk it over. Why do you think STOP chooses shade trees for playgrounds? How might a schoolyard feel in July with no trees at all?
Kids often get even more curious when they realize the November sun is lower in the sky, so the sun-and-shade gap may be smaller now than in summer. Write that down too, and plan to repeat the test next spring when the trees leaf out.
Ready to grow a tree of your own? Our Plant Propagation Science Kit – Root an Apple Cutting lets kids try the same method orchards use to make new apple trees. The box includes a fresh apple cutting (scion wood) with several growth nodes, a rooting hormone packet, a moisture wrap, printed rooting instructions, and grade-level curriculum and observation worksheets (emailed after purchase). Rooting a fruit-tree cutting is a genuine experiment and results vary, and figuring out why is part of the lesson. It's a perfect indoor project while Arkansas trees are bare.
Join the growing community
Every kit comes with an invitation to Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands, our private group where kids and parents share progress photos, ask questions and troubleshoot together. Post your shade detective chart, your first sign of a new root, or a picture of your family's favorite shade tree. Young growers in Arkansas, West Virginia and Arizona are learning side by side, and it's fun to see how the same experiment plays out in a different climate.
Grow a tree this winter
- Plant Propagation Science Kit – Root an Apple Cutting, with Curriculum & Worksheets: $29.99, with Grades K–5 or 6–12 curriculum.
- Want a second tree to compare? The Redwood Tree Cutting Rooting Science Kit is $19 for the kit, or $29 with two pots, an extra cutting and two growing mediums so kids can compare results.
