New Releases and Free Resources: PLT Year in Review
Highlights of our newest releases, as well as the training and resources we deliver for free, thanks to our state and national partners and sponsors.
Education Level
School Forests Connect Children to Nature
Enriching outdoor classrooms, ready-to-use lessons, and outdoor skill-based trainings in the woods. Learn how the Minnesota DNR’s School Forest Program helps teachers develop and enhance their outdoor instruction.
Native American Heritage Month, Thanksgiving, and Year-Round Resources for Educators
November is Native American, or American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. While we should honor, recognize, and celebrate Indigenous Peoples year-round, November is a month to dedicate more time to our individual and respective learning journeys about Indigenous Peoples’ history, culture, knowledge, perspectives, and leadership.
Connecting Students, Indigenous Knowledge, and Minnesota Forests
The Minnesota DNR’s forestry education program recently adapted seven classic PLT activities to include Ojibwe and Dakota culture and knowledge.
Thank a Tree for Everything From Your Roof to Shredded Cheese
Celebrate National Forest Products Week from October 19-25, 2025 and appreciate the many ways forest products play a role in our daily lives—from the houses we live in to the paper we use at school and work.
14 Halloween Activities With Natural and Recycled Materials
Celebrate Halloween, Batweek, and everything spooky this season with our 14 Halloween-themed activities for students of all ages and levels. Created using recycled materials, our hands-on activity ideas will turn students into scientists using homemade lava lamps, leaf ghosts, monster eyeballs, and more.
Amara and the Bats
Halloween is a great time to think about bats and their vital role in our ecosystems. Follow Amara on her mission to bring bats to her local park and help people appreciate their importance. Use this children’s book to learn the truth about bats, and to share facts about these amazing–yet often misunderstood–creatures.
Activities and Experiments to Explore Photosynthesis in the Classroom
Photosynthesis can be a difficult concept to grasp, that’s why we’ve compiled a selection of hands-on activities and experiments to help show students some of the concepts in action.
New PLT Activity Collections: Nature of Fire for Grades 6-8
Nature of Fire is the next installment in a series of theme-based PLT Activity Collections. It features three PLT activities for educators of students in grades 6-8 that invite learners to investigate wildfire and ecosystem change.
STEM: Habitat Pen Pals
Challenge students to use their creative skills to define a habitat, investigate related species, engineer a wildlife corridor, and manipulate an interactive model to demonstrate population growth.