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Discover and Grow with an Urban Forest in a Box

Look­ing for activ­i­ty- and solu­tions-based tools to ener­gize your STEAM envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion? Want to address cli­mate change and its local impacts, or pro­vide engage­ment at com­mu­ni­ty fes­ti­vals? Read on!

What is Urban Forest in a Box?

Urban For­est in a Box is a series of edu­ca­tion loan kits that invite you to dis­cov­er the ben­e­fits of a healthy urban for­est. By urban for­est, we mean all the trees in our com­mu­ni­ty, from trees in side­walks, yards, and parks to those that cling to hill­sides or trail their branch­es in our rivers.


Each kit or box explores a dif­fer­ent top­ic pro­vid­ing instruc­tions, equip­ment, work­sheets, bio­facts, and more, to guide you through tai­lored activ­i­ties. Kits are ver­sa­tile and adapt­able for var­i­ous ages.


Grade-lev­el rec­om­men­da­tions for each kit are there for guid­ance but are not absolute.

How does it work?

Bor­row a box or sev­er­al box­es for a peri­od of up to two weeks. Your first box is free through Sep­tem­ber 2023! Sub­se­quent kit rentals are $40. Pick­up and dropoff are at Tree Pitts­burgh’s cam­pus (32 62nd Street, Pitts­burgh, PA 15201).


Book a Tree Pitts­burgh edu­ca­tor to imple­ment an Urban For­est in a Box pro­gram for $75 a lesson/box. Add on anoth­er les­son for $40 in the same vis­it. Lim­its to par­tic­i­pant num­bers apply.

ReLeaf Com­mu­ni­ty and One Tree Per Child schools and edu­ca­tors can con­tact Tree Pitts­burgh for more infor­ma­tion on free rentals and pro­grams! Email Maeve Raf­fer­ty at maeve@treepittsburgh.org or call 412–781-8733 x 214 for more information.

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Trees & Birds
Let’s go bird­ing in the urban for­est to learn about the con­nec­tions between birds and trees, and to hone lis­ten­ing and obser­va­tion skills. Binoc­u­lars, ID books, and Iden­ti­fly­er includ­ed, as well as instruc­tions for an ener­getic game we call Chick­adees and War­blers. Grades 4–5, year-round

Trees & Mammals
Which mam­mals use the urban for­est? What can we learn from the signs they leave behind? Learn with repli­ca skulls and scat, real pelts, and more! All ages, year-round.
Trees & Urban Heat Islands
Inves­ti­gate the urban heat island effect, using infrared ther­mome­ters to detect sur­face tem­per­a­tures in your neigh­bor­hood. Delve into the physics of heat trans­fer, the health chal­lenges of cli­mate change, and the cool­ing pow­er of trees. Grades 6+, best May through September
iTree
Mea­sure and map the ben­e­fits of the trees on your doorstep with the web-based soft­ware tool iTree-Design. Iden­ti­fy your trees, col­lect data, and use iTree to cal­cu­late the dol­lar val­ue of the ecosys­tem ser­vices those trees pro­vide. An indoor-only ver­sion is avail­able. Grades 6+, year-round

Trees & Stormwater
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