That's a tough one! I like the 'Forest of S.T Shrew' when it is acted out. Each student takes on the role of a speaking animal in the forest. And there is lots of potential for creativity. Kids can draw out the story line as a comic strip for example, or write a different ending to the story.

But i also like "Viewpoints on the Line" because it requires critical thinking skills and it makes students question a lot of the attitudes and beliefs they live by. It teaches the kids that the answers to many questions they face are almost never yes or no, but rather somewhere in between.

Do I really have to pick just one?? PLT has so much to offer; choosing a "favorite" really depends on your audience's needs and your facilitator's strengths.

If I am a participant, my favorite PLT activity is Tree Factory, especially if Al Stenstrup is the workshop facilitator. If your facilitator is energetic, animated, and has a great sense of humor (read: Al), this is a perfect PLT environmental education activity to use as an introduction piece or after-lunch reenergizer.

On the other hand, if I am the facilitator, my favorite activities include Poet-Tree, Birds and Worms, and How Big is Your Tree?. I like these activities for very different reasons. How Big is Your Tree? is great for older audiences, it features higher level thinking and integrates high-level math concepts. Birds and Worms is fun because it gets you working as teams and exercising, while also challenging you to collect and synthesize data. And Poet-Tree… well, who doesn’t love that activity? It’s truly amazing to see what some folks come up with, and the activity is a great review of language arts terms and literary techniques. I think it’s also interesting that the common thread between the three PreK-8 activities I’ve chosen as favorites is that they all must be conducted outdoors (and preferably in the sunshine!)

I know, I know. Jackie, you were told to pick the BEST PLT activity of all time. This means only one. So, I’m going to throw you all for a loop and say that my favorite PLT activity of all time is Activity 1 from the Places We Live module. Personal Places is a great introduction to any PLT workshop or conference session, and there is no better way to get people talking to one another. As Ed McMahon says, “if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.”

Hum - more than one on my end, too. Love Tree Factory because everyone gets to participate, learn, make funny noises, and act a little silly. BUT - they remember what they learn. And it makes for great pictures!

I also like Water Wonders - especially the assessment where I let students (young and older) share what they learned via a method that they like whether it be a poem, a song, a rap, a picture, or a play they create.

My vote goes to Tree Factory also. I've gotten where I use it at the end of every workshop now and it leaves such a great feeling of enjoyment after it is over. I have the roots say "gurgle gurgle, slurp slurp, water for the tree....slurp", then the heartwood say "I am heartwood, I am heartwood, I am strong, I am strong" as he/she flexes their muscles, the sapwood says "I am sapwood, I am sapwood, I transport, I transport" as they pretend to lift up water from their feet to head, the bark says "I am bark, I am bark, I protect, I protect" as they push outward with both hands in a gesture of fighting off something, then I have several people become branches, with one hand on the shoulder of a "bark person" and the other hand stretched outward. All the others left in the room gather around the ends of the branches, lift their hands high in the air and wave them as if the wind is blowing and say, in a high pitched voice" making food, making food, making food....".
The branches always come back (or the whole group) and says "you didn't tell the branches what they are to say". That's when I talk about how if you visit a factory there's always the rhythm of the machinery in the background. And that's what the branches have to do, make a rhythm noise (usually kind of a rapping noise that's humorous.) Then we start with the branches, bring in the roots, then heartwood, sapwood, bark and finally the leaves. By that time everyone is laughing and having a great time. What a great way to end a workshop and have the participants leave with a good feeling!!! Yes, my vote is for Tree Factory.

As I just finished part 1 of a PLT pK-8 workshop 2.74 hours ago, I'm going with "We All Need Trees". (Though "Tree Facotry" always cracks educators up.) I <3 "We All Need Trees" because it really opens people's eyes up to how much we truly rely on trees for so many things they never think of!

But, Jackie, if we are talking "Places We Live", I love "Personal Places" too. :-)

Hi Rachel-
Sure. Tree Cookies is my favorite too. This week.

Next month, my favorite will go to Bursting Buds. Green up doesn't come to my part of the state until late April. But the buds are there!

"Tree Cookies" is good, but much better when used in conjunction with "Tree Factory."

"Birds and Worms" is another favorite. I did it with a thrid grade class of Choctaw Indians from the Pearl River Reservation near Philadelphia, MS. and they LOVED it.

I agree with Jackie - it's hard to choose just one! My students really like Looking at Leaves, and in particular, Cherokee Leaf Prints. There's just something about pounding the daylights out of a leaf with a river rock that touches their soul! (Probably the noise factor.) I am partial to Bursting Buds, but since meeting Billy B. at the last conference, any activity that gives me a chance to use Billy B. rocks my world. Again, probably the noise factor! :)

"Tree Cookies" is a great one, but the one activity that is a MUST at every workshop I conduct is "Every Tree For Itself". There is nothing else I've found that does a better job of getting across the concepts of competition within a forest ecosystem and how forest management can influence that process; and the active engagement of participants works for all age levels. There are so many ways this activity can be adapted to address specific principles, it must receive my vote as the best activity.

Ohhh...How could I forget Birds and Worms! Okay, it may be too hard to choose just one.

Tree Factory may be in the lead right now...But don't forget the secondary and early childhood activities. This is for the best PLT Activity of All Time - from ANY of the guides!

There are two activities that I have done at nearly every workshop since my first in 1993! One is We All Need Trees, because it is so great to teach pedagogy (cooperative, constructivist, and facilitated learning) and the other is Every Tree For Itself, because it is the best way to interactively teach forest management, and the spread of fires, insects and disease-something that happens alot in Colorado these days! Ahhhh. PLT at it's best!

I like Renewable or Not because it is an EATING activity and perfect for afternoons when people are tired. I am going to post a photo to my Virginia PLT Coordinator page of some boy scouts who organized their m&m's by color during the Greed vs. Need part of the activity. We did this in the middle of a weekend campout, and all of the boys quickly figured out how to grow their "populations" of m&m's and eat them in a sustainable manner.