Forest Royalty: The Cedar Tree
By Isaac Kemsley, Madrona School Kindergarten Teacher
When the Madrona School’s nature kindergarten adventures into the parks and forested areas around Bainbridge Island, we often find a campsite to settle into. More often than not, that site is sheltered beneath the boughs of a large cedar tree.
We choose to comfy around the trunk of a cedar tree for several reasons. Cedars grow tall and proud, stretching their swooping branches far out in all directions. They provide lovely protection from the rain in the winter months and respite from the sun in the summer.
The cedar sheds needles and whisks that make a soft, duffy carpet beneath that is a joy to tread upon, spongy and with just the right amount of spring underfoot. Combined with a tablecloth or tarp and some sit-upons, it is a lovely place to turn into a dining area for our snack.
The knuckles of the buttress roots, just before they dive beneath the earth, leave little hollows between one another, perfect for turning into miniature fairy homes. With furniture and decorations of cones and twigs, it is a beautiful gift to leave behind when we pack up our campsite.
Sometimes the branches grow low enough to the ground for the children to reach and then the cedar is climbed. Each accessible bough is draped with children talking, shouting, and reasoning out the order of the game at hand.
It is developmentally appropriate that kindergarten aged children play games rooted in hierarchical ordering: squirrel family, human family, firefighters, school, pirates, royalty, etc… Here, the cedar can lend itself to the game in another way. It furnishes just the right equipment to make costumes. We are fans of the royal crown.
To make a crown, first we look about the ground beneath our red barked friend and find the fallen branchlets that stretch from 3-4 feet long and possess a whip-like curl. Then, from the thicker end, we measure the diameter of a child’s head and wind a circlet (taking care to hold it tight and test the fit before continuing. After we have the first circle bent from the branchlet, we continue to wind and wrap the remaining length, spiraling it around and around to form a cedar crown. At the end, we may have to tie the end down with a bit of string or, if it was a long enough branchlet, you can tuck the tip between the twists in the crown and it will hold tight.
Children can continue to add branches until it is a thick and heavy crown to bear. They can also decorate the crown with purple and white daisies and make it a festive spring adornment. The circlet is worn and court can be held immediately. Add a pinecone and branchlet scepter and the kings and queens can rule all that they can see from their perch in the crook of the cedar tree.
Blessings on the Cedar! Thuja plicata!
