1. Start the fun with a hike, walk in the park or walk around the block. You can find pine cones just about anywhere. Even in sunny Woodland Hills.
• Bring a bag or container to hold your finding. 
• Wear gloves if desired. 
• How many pine cones can you find?
• What do they sound like when they drop?
• Are they sticky? Heavy? Light? Compare and contrast as you gather.
• Where do they come from? 
• Smell the trees. Touch the needles. Touch the bark…
2. Explore the pine cones at home

Focus On:

Language Arts

What color are the pine cones?
How do they feel?

Math Skills

Science

Pine Cones carry seeds. See if you can find the seeds. Plant the seeds in a pot & watch them grow.  They come from plants called Conifers – because the plants have cones.  

Cooking

Roast Pine nuts (best to buy the nuts from the store). Simply take some raw nuts and heat them up in a pan with or without oil. They taste great with pasta or on a salad. 

Squirrel Pine Cones

Simply take a pine cone and slather it with your favorite peanut butter then roll it in birdseed. Hang from a string on your tree. Squirrels go crazy for it. Birds like it too. Make lots of them to decorate your trees.

Art Projects

Mini Holiday Tree

• Take a pine cone and paint it green, white or what ever color or colors you want. Then decorate it with what ever you want; candy, beads, glitter, stickers, tiny ornaments…

Pine Cone Painting

• Place a piece of paper in a box with short sides. (A lid from a case of paper works best.) Place many different puddles of paint on the paper. Next place a pine cone in the box & start shaking the box.  Watch the pine cone roll through the paint, making a neat design on the paper.

Gross Motor / Physical Education

Spanish  

Pine Cone – Piñas
Pine Tree – Pino
Seed – semilla
Plant – Planta
Sticky – pegadizo
Needles – aguja

Read one of these:

There are learning opportunities around every corner. Keep your eyes and ears open and you can help your child learn and explore every day.  Have Fun!