Kids [in unison] Go outside and play!

Abby: This park has lots of different kinds of plants and we're going to see if we can find as many different kinds and tell them apart as we can. Are you guys ready?

Kids [in union] Yeah!

[music]

Abby: Do you have any idea what kind of tree this is?

[indistinguishable chatter]

Abby: I don't know either but, you know what? My brother, David, knows a lot about plants because he's a naturalist and I've learned so much from him. So I asked him to come to teach you guys today too. So what kind of tree is this?

David: This is a cottonwood tree actually.

Why do the leaves change colors?

David: In the winter, trees go dormant and so they pull all of the resources out of the leaves and store them in their roots. So the leaves changing colors is the nutrients leaving the leaves.

[music]

Abby: There's a lot of different kinds of plants here today. What do you guys see?

Grass.

Abby: You see grass. Milkweed.

Trees.

Abby: There are trees, you got it.

Leaves.

Abby: Leaves.

[music]

David: Can you guys see these two?

Yeah!

David: Yeah. What kind of trees do these come from?

[indistinguishable chatter]

David: They're called evergreens. One is a spruce tree and one is a pine tree. Do you know how you can tell the difference? You take one of these needles, you're going to roll it between your fingers. And the pine tree the needle won't roll as easy because it's flatter.

The flat one is a pine tree.

The round one is a spruce tree.

Abby: Plants are really important for a lot of reasons. Do you know one reason why?

I know that trees are important because the leaves give us oxygen.

Abby: Look at those great big pods on top. These are some beautiful plants.

We planted those last year to make our park more beautiful.

[music]