Winter Twigs

This sheet of detailed pictures of the Winter twigs of different varieties of British trees is fantastic, it comes from the Woodland Trust's 'Nature Detectives' site, and can be downloaded direct here. In the picture, Eve is identifying a horse chestnut by it's huge, sticky black buds. Motivated by my desire for it to be Spring soon, we cut two twigs and brought them home; they make a stark display in my Grandmother's gorgeous earthenware flower jug, but should soon burst into life in the warmth of the lounge. This is a simple activity that can be done at the local park or walking along the street, it doesn't even need a big trip out to the woods. It really encouraged the girls to look closely and discuss the differences as several of the buds we looked at were red but are layered differently.