Kids love animals and they want to make sure animals always have safe places to call home.
A great way to help endangered species and all animals is to protect their forest habitat.
Forests are under-rated. They are crucial for life on earth and are home to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. These complex ecosystems are home to animals, plants, fungi, bacteria – and humans too!
But forests are being destroyed and degraded at distressing rates. More than 50 million square miles of forest are lost each year.
The ChariTree Foundation wants to support kids helping animals by funding and sourcing local tree seedlings for kids to plant with their schools and camps in an effort to restore trees damaged and lost by storms, forest fires, or logging. One of they best things a child can do is learn how to plant a tree and care for a tree. When they plant a native species, the are helping animals and the world — and kids want to help.
Read books about protecting biodiversity like:
- Be a Pond Detective, Solving the Mysteries of Lakes, Swamps and Pools by Peggy Kochanoff
- A Tree in a Forest by Jan Thornhill
- Wolf Island by Celia Godkin
- The Wish Trees: How Planting Trees Can Help Make the World a Better Place by Andrea Koehle Jones
- What If There Were No Bees? by Suzanne Slade
- The Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth by Rochelle Strauss
Read books about protecting biodiversity like:
- Be a Pond Detective, Solving the Mysteries of Lakes, Swamps and Pools by Peggy Kochanoff
- A Tree in a Forest by Jan Thornhill
- Wolf Island by Celia Godkin
- The Wish Trees: How Planting Trees Can Help Make the World a Better Place by Andrea Koehle Jones
- What If There Were No Bees? by Suzanne Slade
- The Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth by Rochelle Strauss
Ask kids about their favourite animals and habitats:
- How does your home help keep you safe?
- What is the last animal you saw (not including your pets) and what do they call home?
- Can you see signs of life in the leafy canopy, bark or roots of a tree?
- What animals live in or depend on local trees?
- Do you think it is important to care for and replace lost trees?
- Why would you want to plant a tree?