Have you ever seen the flat top of a cut tree stump? It has lots of circles, like a target board! 🎯
Those circles are called tree rings. Each one is a little story about the tree's life. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to read a tree's age just by looking at them!
Tap Next to start exploring! 👉
A tree trunk is not just one solid block of wood. It has parts! Tap each glowing spot on the trunk to discover what it does.
Found 0 of 3 parts
Here's the big idea: every year, a tree grows a brand-new ring on its outside, just under the bark. 🌱
Press “Grow one year” and watch a young tree get older!
Notice: the number of rings is exactly the tree's age!
Rings are not all the same size, and that tells us about the weather!
🌧️ In a wet, sunny year the tree grows a lot → a fat, wide ring.
🏜️ In a dry, hard year the tree grows only a little → a thin, skinny ring.
Drag each weather card to the ring it made:
Because there's one ring per year, you can find a tree's age by counting the rings!
How many rings does this stump have? Count carefully, then tap your answer.
Scientists called dendrochronologists (say: den-dro-cron-OL-o-jists) study rings to learn about the past — even from hundreds of years ago!
Tap a clue below to see what a ring can reveal:
Revealed 0 of 3 stories
Let's recap the secret of tree rings:
Next time you see a tree stump, count the rings and tell everyone how old it was. Great work! 👏