A Tree in the Desert to Climb

Abstract

Introduction:  One of the exercises in Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery asked, "What good is a tree in the middle of a desert?"  The children were excited and very expressive about this idea.  They felt the tree could be for climbing, for birds to land in, to beautify the desert with green and for its pretty colored leaves in the Fall.  I was amazed at their answers.  Only the simplicity of a child would see a tree in the desert for climbing.  Most adults would probably answer it was there for shade and for a place to rest from the hot sun.  The children did not ask how the tree got there, or what kind of birds could live in the desert, or how could you have frost in the desert to change the color of the leaves.  Their imaginations were uninhibited by our adult limitations.