Deadfall
Activities | Trees | Mini Nature Trails | Observation Walks | Scavenger Hunts | Nature Bingo | Birds

The following involves both exploring and discovering but also helps children realize how even a seemingly harmless action by humans can have a negative effect on the health of an ecosystem. 

In a picnic area, explain to the children the importance of deadfall: branches, bark pieces and fallen logs lying on the ground. Deadfall provides food and shelter to many small organisms, such as millipedes and beetles, which in turn are important sources of food for larger organisms such as shrews and woodpeckers. The soft wood also provides ideal growing conditions for moss, lichens and tree seedlings. As the dead wood decomposes (falls apart), it becomes part of the soil, adding valuable nutrients which plants need to grow. Thus the cycle of life continues. This is why park visitors are not allowed to collect the deadfall to use as firewood. 

While your fire is being prepared, using firewood brought from home, give the children copies of the illustrations below. Working in small groups, how many of these organisms can the children find using the deadfall in the picnic area? Remind the children that, if they lift up deadfall to look underneath, they should put it back where they found it. Ask the children to explain why this would be important.