Please note: A number of our Parks will be CLOSED this weekend, Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 December 2024 due to the forecast high winds.

Other facilities may close at short notice for public and/or staff safety if required.

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Educational Resources and Activities

Educational Resources and Activities

In this Section

Trees

Trees are one of the most important assets that Carnfunnock Country Park has to offer as an educational resource.  

Tree Planting

Tree planting can be arranged for school or youth groups or other interested parties.

Each winter we invite local schools to visit Carnfunnock and help us plant native trees in the grounds of the Park.

We are very proud that local schools have helped us plant a native orchard on our biodiversity trail as part of National Tree Week.

Species planted included crab apple, wild cherry and blackthorn, as well as downy birch, goat willow and alder.

World of Trees

This new educational material encourages teachers to take their Key Stage 2/3 pupils on a woodland exploration to discover the world of trees using activity based worksheets.  

Teacher guidance notes are also provided outlining general background information and additional activities.

Our publication called ‘Tree Spotting at Carnfunnock Country Park’ is also complementary to this material and is available directly from the Park.

The programme is available all year round - although certain activities are seasonal and can only be carried out at particular times of the year.

There are 2 core elements to this educational material:

  1. Environmental Maths
  2. Tree Investigation

Materials required

The worksheets and teacher guidance notes are in PDF format and can be downloaded free of charge below.

Equipment needs are outlined in the guidance notes and will depend on the activity which you choose to carry out.

This project was assisted by the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust as part of the Natural Resource Rural Tourism Initiative under the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.

Costs and booking

This material is free to download provided it is not reproduced for commercial purposes.

Please remember to book your visit in advance.

Curriculum area:
The World Around Us (Science, Geography, Maths, Art and Design, English, History, ICT)

Environmental Maths

Each worksheet involves experiments or activities which can be carried out in the Park to identify:

  1. How old is that tree?
    Learn how to measure the age of both growing trees and felled trees.
    There is also the opportunity for comparisons to be made amongst the class.
  2. How tall is my tree?
    Children can establish the height of a tree using two methods of calculation, which can be compared for accuracy.

Please download teacher guidance notes and student worksheets below:

Tree Investigation

This consists of the following activity based worksheets:   

  1. Know the parts of a tree:  What kind of tree is it?
    Use clues such as tree shape/form, type  of tree, bark, twigs/buds, leaves, flowers, berries/fruit/nuts to figure out a species of tree
  2. Woodland habitat
  3. The importance of trees to people
  4. Conservation or destruction of trees
  5. The role of exotic trees in Northern Ireland focusing on Pissards Plum, Cabbage Tree and Monterey Cypress.

Please download teacher guidance notes and student worksheets below.