Trees for Kids - Learn all about trees in this fun educational video for kids

This video is all about trees. Yay! Have you ever heard the famous line about trees by a poet named Joyce Kilmer? He wrote, I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. It's one of the most famous lines ever written about trees by one of the most famous poets of all time. A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair Upon whose bosom snow has lain Who ultimately lives with rain. Joyce Kilmer really loved trees. And what's not to love? There are trees all around us. In fact, according to some estimates, there are an astonishing 3 trillion trees on Earth. That's the number 3 with 12 zeros after it. That means there are more than 400 times as many trees as there are people on the planet. Trees come in all shapes and sizes and are super important to keep life on Earth going. Without trees around us, our ecosystem would collapse. So, what is a tree exactly? A tree is essentially a tall plant. Some trees can grow to over 300 feet tall, which is about the height of a 30-story building. Other trees are tiny and they come in all sizes in between. Scientifically speaking, a tree is a tall plant that has a thick, wooden stem and large branches. Because trees are plants, they need the same things to grow like plants. What do you think those things are? If you said water, air, nutrients from the soil, and sunlight, you are absolutely right. Trees can grow almost anywhere. Where it's hot, where it's cold, on the plains, by the river, and in the mountains, even in the desert. Of course, there are places where trees don't grow because the soil is too cold, or frozen, or there's not enough moisture, the altitude is too high, the ground is too rocky, or the surface of the Earth has been paved over or built on by people. For example, as you can imagine, there are no trees in Antarctica, and there are definitely no trees growing out of the middle of the highway. Have you ever seen a mountain where there are trees growing at the bottom, but no trees growing closer to the top? The place where the trees stop growing is known as the tree line, or timber line. You may also have noticed that trees don't grow in the ocean or in deep bodies of water. Plants that only live for one year and then die are called annuals. But trees are different. They live all year round, last for more than two years, and are referred to as perennials. Trees can also get diseases, be cut down by people or animals like beavers, get infested with insects, and sometimes get caught up in fires and floods. But otherwise, trees are very hardy, and can survive a lot of various conditions. During the winter, many trees become dormant, meaning they don't grow but survive and start growing again in the spring. Trees can also live a long, long time. There are trees in the world that have lived for over 4,000 years, which is more than 10 times longer than in some countries like the United States have existed. There's even a tree in Sweden that was discovered to have a root system almost 10,000 years old. Other plants don't live nearly as long as some trees. Believe it or not, there are more than 100,000 species of trees on Earth. It would be almost impossible to remember all the different types of trees. And there are even some in the rainforest that haven't yet been discovered. The experts that spend their lives discovering trees, learning all about them, and classifying them are called dendrologists. There are two types of trees, deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous trees are the ones that lose their leaves every fall and grow them back again in spring. And evergreen trees keep their leaves, which are known as needles or scales, all year round. Deciduous trees are sometimes referred to as hardwood or broadleaf trees and include species that you might have in your neighborhood, like elm, oak, maple, beech, ginkgo, and birch. As we said, deciduous trees shed their leaves in autumn and grow them again in spring, have large and broad leaves, and often produce flowers, nuts, or fruits that provide food for animals and people too. Apples, peaches, pears, walnuts, and almonds, they all come from deciduous trees. But what about evergreen trees? What are they like? Well, the name kind of says it all. The leaves of evergreen trees are narrow and thin and are called needles or scales. And they don't change colors or fall off during autumn. Evergreens stay green all winter and are sometimes referred to as conifer trees because many of them produce pine cones. Have you ever noticed that a lot of evergreen trees have a unique smell too? Close your eyes and try to imagine what a pine tree smells like. Mmm. Most of that piney odor you're imagining comes from chemicals called terpenes, which are made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. I just love that smell! So now that you know more about two types of trees, let's talk a little bit about how trees grow and thrive. Just like other plants, trees use a process called photosynthesis to turn sunlight into the energy they need to live. Inside their leaves, trees have a green compound called chlorophyll that helps get that process going. The reason that deciduous trees drop their leaves every fall is that during that time of year, photosynthesis ends for the season and the green chlorophyll goes away. It's that chlorophyll that provides the leaves with their green color. When it disappears, the leaves turn brown, red, yellow, and orange. We all know that trees have roots. But why? Well, those roots are crucial to helping trees survive as they soak up the nutrients and water from the soil that trees need to live. Roots are also essential to prevent trees from toppling over. But what about flowers, fruits, and nuts? They're equally as important as they carry the seeds that are transported by water, wind, and animals to other parts of the forest. Those seeds then begin to grow into new trees, and the process starts over again. As the tree grows bigger, it gets taller, whiter, and the roots go deeper. The branches grow out, the roots grow down, and the trunk and the crown thicken. On the trunk, bark grows and protects the tree from animals and diseases. Think of the bark as thick, protective skin for the tree. During winter, the tree stops growing, and the trunk forms a ring. There is one ring for each year the tree is alive. Maybe you've been to a museum or a national park where they have an old trunk that's been cut down, like this one. If you count the rings inside the trunk, you can figure out how old the tree is. Okay, we all know that trees are important. Without them, humans and other animals couldn't exist. But why? Simply put, trees provide the oxygen we breathe. That's right. Trees actually put oxygen into the air through the process of photosynthesis. They also provide us with wood that humans have used over the years for houses, furniture, fuel, and things like towels and toilet paper. We also rely on trees for food like fruits and nuts. Animals also need trees for many of the same reasons. They provide habitat and food for countless animals, like birds, squirrels, monkeys, and others. Can you think of an animal that lives in a tree and eats its fruits or nuts? There are so many! Trees also decompose when they fall or die, putting much more needed nutrients back into the soil. The Earth itself needs trees. Our planet couldn't function without them. They take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen, which is critical for life. They provide shade from sun and even help prevent floods and wind damage. Trees are truly amazing, and we need to protect them. Unfortunately, rainforests and other thick forests in the world are almost always being destroyed or torn down by people. To make way for cattle ranching, logging, farming, oil exploration, or to build new buildings, highways, or housing developments, over 6,000 square miles of rainforest is removed each year for these various activities. Every one of you needs to think about trees. Speak for them. Take care of them so that future generations can have clean air, a thriving ecosystem, and a healthy Earth. Remember to think about how to help save trees in your daily life. Use paper responsibly. Recycle paper and cardboard. Go visit the forest! Tell other kids in your class about how cool trees are, how much we need them, and how life wouldn't exist without trees all around us. As Joyce Kilmer would say, Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.