Educators' Resources

William S. Hart Park and Museum Activities

This collection of activities related to the park and museum has been designed for educators and guardians who are planning a visit to the park and would like to do educational, fun activities with their children. These activities are simple, require minimal materials, fit into CA content standards, and provide children the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in a new, fun and exciting environment.

The content of the activities reflects that of the park (science) and museum (social science), to enrich your children’s experience and to make the most of the many learning opportunities available here at Wm. S Hart Park and Museum. The activities range from kindergarten to the 5th grade level in both science and social science.

Feel free to use these activities outside of the park as well, since most are highly adaptable to many situations. Some can be used pre or post visit to prepare children for new ideas to be learned, or to reinforce ideas touched upon in the park and museum.

Some activities require additional materials, like paper, crayons, and scissors. If these materials are used in the park please remove all scrap when you are through and leave the park as you found it. It is understandably difficult to conduct an off-site activity and this was kept in mind when designing these activities by requiring minimal materials.

---

Science

Target age group: Kindergarten

Objective: To use touch as an observational tool, aiding in the discovery of different physical properties such as, size, weight, texture, and flexibility.

Materials: collected plant material, brown paper bags, white drawing paper, crayons/ pencils

Time: 15-45 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. What is a texture?
   
2. What are some words that describe how the objects you collected feel?
   
3. Could you tell what the object in the bag was before you could see it?
   
4. What are some clues you can feel for while touching the objects in the bag? (size, weight, texture, flexibility)
   

Background information: We use our senses, sight, smell, taste, and touch, to give us clues about the world around us. Touch can tell us many things about our world. We use touch can tell us about textures. Texture is how an objects surface feels. For example a texture can be soft or rough, smooth or bumpy. We are going to use our sense of touch to learn about nature and natural objects. By touching and experimenting with plant parts we can learn about how they look, feel, and function.

Activity instructions:

1. Working in pairs have the children collect plant materials in a brown paper bag from their immediate surroundings. This should include leaves, twigs, seeds, fruit, roots, flowers, and bark that have fallen to the ground. If you are alone with a child, take turns collecting objects for each other.
   
   Teachers’ Tip: It is important to remind the children to collect things that have already fallen on the ground. Do not pick directly from the plant.
   
2. Collect many samples of one kind of object. If they chose to collect leaves, then only collect leaves. They can chose something else on their next turn.
   
3. Do not show others in the group what has been collected. Instead, one by one and without looking take turns feeling each other’s objects. Use the questions above to help them understand what they are feeling.
   
4. Have them draw and/or describe what they have just felt before they see the object. Ask them to explain how they were able draw/describe what the object looked liked. What did feeling the object tell them? The key concepts for them to recognize are size, texture, weight, and flexibility.
   
5. Now let them see the object. Compare their drawings and descriptive words with what was in the bag.

Target age group: Kindergarten /1st grade

Objective: To learn about a major structure of plants, leaves, by collecting examples directly from nature, discussing their function, appearance, and making a leaf rubbing with crayons.

Materials: plain paper, crayons, assortment of collected leaves

Time: 15-30 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. What are some parts of plants?

2. How do plants make their food?

3. Do all leaves look the same?

Background information: Explain the function of leaves by relating the process of photosynthesis to our own digestive process. Humans need to eat food. That food is made into energy, which helps us grow and be healthy. Plants also need food, but their food is different. They need sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that comes out of humans and animals when we breathe. Leaves use these ingredients to make food for the plant. Veins in the leaves carry energy to the plant. When leaves make their food it gives them a green color. Although not all green leaves look the same and some plants have a yellow color.

Activity Instructions:

1. Review the ideas above.

2. Collect several different types of leaves that have already fallen to the ground.
   Teachers Tip: Make sure to emphasize that by pulling the leaves off living plants they will be hurting the plant and killing the leaf.

3. Have the children observe and describe some of the similarities and differences between the leaves they have collected. Look for the veins and at the color, shape, and size of the leaves.

4. Place the leaves under the paper. Rub the paper with the side of a crayon to make an imprint of the leaf. Have fun!

Target age group: 2nd grade

Objective: To use the trees in Wm. S Hart Park in a simple investigation on fruits and seeds. Focusing on the their function as the reproductive system of trees and identifying examples within the park.

Materials: fruit chart below, pencil or crayon

Time: 30-45 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. What is a fruit?

2. Name some fruits that you have eaten?

3. What does a seed do?

4. Why is it important for a tree to make many seeds?

5. Of the fruits you found which are fleshy, which are dry?
   

Background information: Almost all trees reproduce through the use of seeds. Fruits help protect the seeds. For example, think of an apple, which has layers that protect the tiny black seeds in the center. An apple is an example of a fleshy fruit. Fleshy fruits are made for birds and mammals (even you and me) to eat and redistribute. Some trees have dry fruits, like acorns. Trees have different ways to get the seeds to the ground. Some fruits split open to release the seeds, some fruits are buried in the ground by squirrels and forgotten, and some are shaped like wings that float to the ground with the wind. Either way the seeds get to the ground it has one job to start growing a new tree. Trees make up to thousands of seeds a year but very few survive to make a new tree. Most of the seeds are eaten by animals and insects or are destroyed by disease.

Activity instructions:

1. Use the chart below as a guide to the most common trees and fruits found in the park. Children can work individually or in groups.

2. As you explore the park look for the tress and fruits on the chart.

3. Each time a certain fruit is spotted make a mark on the chart. See how many you can find.

4. Discuss the differences between the fruits found. Where they close to the parent trees? Did the fruits still contain the seeds?

   Cypress	Coast Live Oak	Pine	California Sycamore

Fruit and Seed Hunt chart Use the chart above to keep track of the seeds you find. Mark and X in the boxes. How many can you find?

Target age group: 3rd Grade

Objective: Create an imaginary new plant. Examine existing plants from a natural site, to use as aids, in discovering the need for, and uses of, different plant parts.

Materials: writing or drawing materials, paper

Time: 15-30 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. What are the parts of a plant?

2. What do the different parts do for the plant?
   

Background information: You are going to create an imaginary plant. Before you begin, think of all the different parts of plants. Trees have bark, a protective layer; branches and twigs that provide a space for the other parts to grow, like leaves, flowers, and fruits. Leaves help make food and energy for the plant. Flowers and fruits are a plants means of reproduction. All trees have flowers but some go unnoticed because they are so small. Fruits contain seeds and help to protect the seeds. Seeds help grow new plants of the same kind. The roots of a plant help the plant reach nutrients and water in the soil. Also keep in mind a plants need for sunlight and water.

Remembering all of these parts, go explore the natural surroundings. Look at the different parts in the plants you find. Now start making your own plant. You can mix and match parts from different plants or makeup parts, but always keep in mind what each part needs to do for the plant. Include bark, or an outside layer of some sort, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds for your plant and be as creative as you wish. What will your plant look like? Should your plant be 50 feet tall or only an inch tall? You can even create animals and insects that could use your plant for food or shelter.

Activity instructions:

1. Discussion of the different parts of plants with the above reading.

2. Take a walk around the park sitting specific examples of the concepts mentioned above, like a fallen acorn, a bee pollinating a flower, an exposed root system, etc.

3. Have the children use tree parts (make sure they are parts that have fallen to the ground) or pencil and paper to create an imaginary plant.

Target age group: 4th Grade

Objective: To learn about ecosystems by using William S. Hart Park as an example. This includes the discussion of producers, consumers, and decomposers with in a food web.

Materials: The chart below and a writing instrument.

Time: 15-30 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. What is an ecosystem?

2. How are ecosystems important to humans?

3. What is a food chain?
   

Background information: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms within a particular physical environment. Some ecosystems you are probable already familiar with are forests and coral reefs. Within these environments there are certain types of plant life that animals which live together and affect one another.

The community of an ecosystem includes the plants, animals, and bacteria found in the soil. The living organisms form a food chain that includes: producers, consumers, and decomposers. Producers are green plants that are the base of food chains. They use the sun as a source of energy to make their food, chlorophyll, in a process known as photosynthesis. Consumers include herbivores and carnivores. Herbivores eat plants and carnivores eat herbivores and other carnivores. Decomposers, like fungi and bacteria, break down dead and dying matter into nutrients.
The proper functioning of ecosystems is very important not only for the plants and animals within in it, but for everyone. Ecosystems provide very important resources for humans like clean air and clean water. They also provide essential foods, medicines, and materials.

Activity instructions:

1. After the discussion of the above material. Use the “Questions to ask” to review this concept.

2. Use the “Ecosystem Activity Guide” individually or in small groups. Provide the children time to explore the park so they can experience the park as an ecosystem.

3. Discuss what they found, any animals they saw, they kind of plants on the trails, and their interconnections.

Click here for the Ecosystem Activity Guide in a PDF Formatted File.

Target age group: 5th grade

Objective: Learning to use a simplified key to identify common plants found inside the park.

Materials: the key provided below, writing instrument

Questions to ask:

1. How do we classify objects? Give examples.

2. Why is it important to know the plants in your environment?
   

Background information: There are over 750 native species of north American trees as well as many species of non-native trees, or trees from other countries, in the us. Many of these trees are quite similar and so it is important to have some way to identify the individual trees. Comparison charts or keys are used to identify plants that are similar by comparing their characteristics. A key helps identify distinctions between the features of similar plants of a certain species. The distinctions involve the appearance of the plant’s leaves, fruits and flowers, bark and branches.
Being observant and patient is a must when trying to identify trees. Collect as much information as you can about the tree. What shape is the tree? What color, size, and shape are the leaves? Can you find the flowers, which all trees have? The key that you will be using is a simplified version, but you will learn some of the terms and ideas used in identifying plants.

Activity instructions:

1. Review the information above.

2. Working as a group or individually use the key as you explore the park.

3. End with a discussion on their experience. How many trees were found? Were there many similar types of trees to the ones on the key?

4. Ask specific questions about the trees. No peeking at the key.
   

Key to the trees in William S. Hart Park

This Key has descriptions and pictures of certain types of trees found in William S. Hart Park. Match up which descriptions go with which picture by writing the letter in the boxes. Then as you explore the park it will be very easy for you to find these trees. How many can you find in the park?

A.	‚ California Sycamore: This tree has an interesting bark that looks somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle with different colors. The broad, long leaves are usually light green and have deep lobes. The round, dry fruits hang from the branches in groups of 3 to 7.
B.	‚ Pine tree: This tree has long needle-like or scale-like green leaves. The fruits are woody cones that are longer than they are broad. The bark is dark brown and sometimes reddish-brown and looks cracked with scaly ridges.
C.	‚ Valley Oak: This tree has dark green large lobed leaves. The fruits are acorns, which are considered hardwood fruits. These acorns are long and slender. The bark is thick and dark brown.
D.	‚ Beavertail Cactus: This tree is also known as a prickly pear because of their many barbed bristles. The branches appear flat. This tree grows in clusters and is light green.
E.	‚ Cypress: This tree has flattened scale-like dark to light green leaves. The leaves overlap one another and are pressed close to the branches. The fruits are woody cones and resemble soccer balls when closed. The reddish-brown bark splits into thin narrow strips.
F.	‚ Coast Live Oak: This tree has dark green, leathery, spiny-toothed oval leaves. The fruits are acorns, which are long and thin, but smaller than the Valley Oak acorns. The acorns are light green when immature and become brown in maturity.

 

Target age group: Kindergarten

Objective: To introduce the concept of the past with a short story about the life of William S. Hart. Differences between the present and past are emphasized. It will prepare young children for the guided tours within the museum.

Materials: story

Time: 10-15 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. Think of some things you imagine yourself being?

2. Why did William dream of being a cowboy?

3. How was life different in the story compared to today?

Background information: Once a long time ago, over a hundred years ago, there was a young boy who dreamed of being a famous actor. He liked to pretend that he was someone else and imagine how different his life could be. Most of the time he imagined him self as a cowboy because he thought it was the most fun and adventurous. Being a cowboy was a popular job then. You rode horses all day, helped move herds of cows, and slept under the stars.
During the days William would play with this friends who were Native Americans from nearby Sioux Tribes. He even learned to speak their language and Sioux sign language.

When William grew up he didn’t forget his dreams so he became a famous movie actor. He played a cowboy named Two Gun Bill, in silent, black and white movies. Movies were very different than they are now because there was no sound, and no color. Sometimes his Sioux friends would play parts in his movies. He also had a horse named Fritz who he would go on movie adventures with. Fritz was in all of William’s movies because they became best friends.
William and Fritz became very famous movie stars, because movies were very popular then especially western cowboy movies. Movies were a new way for people to have fun. Before the movies, like William’s, people could sing, play instruments, or read for fun because there was no radio, television or CD players. Today watching movies are still something people watch for fun, but usually not William’s cowboy movies.

When William got older he was very thankful to those people who made him famous and watched his movies, so he gave them his beautiful home. Now, that it is a museum, everyone can see his home.

Target age group: 1st Grade

Objective: A brief introduction to cowboys and their equipment.

Materials: Background info provided, Handkerchiefs

Time: 10-15 minutes

Questions to ask:

1. Who knows what a cowboy is?
   
2. Where do you usually see cowboys?
   
3. How alike are movie cowboys to real cowboys?
   

Background information: William S. Hart built his fame as a movie cowboy. He was one of the first people to play a cowboy in some of the earliest movies. These movies were black and white and had no sound. He tried to make his movie cowboys seem very real, because he grew up around real cowboys. He knew how they dressed and acted, so he was able to seem like a real cowboy.

A real cowboy had a very hard life. For example, they spent all day in a saddle no matter what the weather was like, extreme heat, rain, and even snow. They had one pair of clothes and spent most of their time away from home. The hard life of being a cowboy was a job for young men only. Only young men could handle the hard physical work. Their job was to drive large herds of cattle on very long trips.

A cowboy’s equipment was very important, because it helped make the trips easier. Some of this equipment you probable already know, like a horse, hat, handkerchief, saddle, boots, spurs, and chaps. Most of the equipment had more than one use. A cowboy hat, for example, gave protection from the sun and rain, but could also be used as a fan to cool down or a pail for water.

A handkerchief, or bandana, is part of the official cowboy uniform. This part of the cowboy’s equipment is said to have a hundred and one uses. It was worn around a cowboy’s neck. What do you think it was originally used for? How many uses can you think of? Think of as many uses as you can and be creative.

Activity instructions:

1. Read the provided material.

2. Working alone or in groups have the children play with the bandanas to figure out some alternative uses for them.

3. See who can come up with the most uses and who has the most creative.

For more information regarding the William S. Hart Museum and Ranch, please call (661) 254-4584 or email us at information@hartmuseum.org.

© The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and William S. Hart Museum. All media are for the personal use of students, scholars and the public. Any commercial use or publication of them is strictly prohibited. If you have any technical problems with this website, please contact webmaster@nhm.org.

Copyright l Privacy Policy

Members of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Foundation:

• The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits
• William S. Hart Ranch  Museum