How to Celebrate Arbor Day
It has been over 135 years since J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day. His simple idea of setting aside a special day for tree planting is now more important than ever. Discover ideas on how to celebrate Arbor Day in your community.
Our Celebrate Arbor Day Guidebook shows you a smorgasbord of possibilities. Pick and choose what makes sense for you. This PDF is available for free download for the first time ever (12.7 MBs).
- Celebrate Arbor Day in your classroom.
- Raise the flag, strike up the band, make Arbor Day fun. Make it memorable.
- Organize a beautification project in a public area.
- Get people into action. Ask a civic or service group to promote a paper drive to gather paper to be recycled and save a tree. Use the proceeds to buy a special tree to plant in a park or other special public place.
- Hold a poster contest, or a poetry contest.
- Sponsor a children’s pageant or play.
- Fill the air with music. Have an Arbor Day concert of songs about trees, or with tree names in their titles.
- Sponsor a tree trivia contest. Give away trees to winners.
- Conduct a tree search. Ask people to find large, unusual or historic trees in your community. Once the results are in, publish a map that highlights the winners, or hold a walk showcasing them.
- Tell people to take a hike - a tree identification hike - and have girl scouts or boy scouts act as guides.
- Dedicate a forest, or a tree, or a flower bed in a park, and make it an occasion to talk about stewardship. Get a local nursery or garden center to hold an open house or field day. Organize an Arbor Day Fair.
- Encourage neighborhood organizations to hold block parties and get their members to adopt and care for street trees in front of their homes. Pass out buttons. Give away trees.
- Celebrate Arbor Day in a personal way by planting a tree yourself. It is an act of optimism and kindness, a labor of love and a commitment to stewardship.
- Read a book about trees. Learn to identify trees in your yard and neighborhood.
- Enjoy the outdoors. Visit a local park or take a nature hike.
- Attend a class on tree and plant care.
- Volunteer with a local tree-planting organization. You’ll meet new people and make a difference in your community.