Children learn ‘Trees Inside and Out’ at Springs Preserve exhibit

Let's say it right off the bat: Palm trees are not featured in "Exploring Trees Inside and Out."

But don't let that stop you from visiting the child-friendly, interactive exhibit that runs until Sept. 5 at the Springs Preserve's Origen Museum.

Even if it's lacking the overt presence of the tree with which most Las Vegas kids are familiar, the 2,500-square-foot exhibit still offers children -- and their parents -- a fun and educational look at the roles trees play in our lives and the connection that exists between trees and the natural world.

Children can walk through a giant tree trunk, learn how to determine a tree's age by counting its rings, crawl inside a giant acorn to learn how seeds work, build birdhouses, and draw and decorate trees of their own. Kids even can don costumes -- of an insect, a bird or a squirrel -- and be placed via green scene technology into a video forest or sky.

Aaron Micallef, the Springs Preserve's curator of exhibits, said "Exploring Trees Inside and Out" actually skews a bit younger than most of the preserve's visiting exhibits. The exhibit, co-produced by the National Arbor Day Foundation, is designed for children 3 and older, versus ages 6 or 7 and older for most traveling exhibits.

Through the displays and activities, Southern Nevada children not only can learn about how trees work and what they do, but be introduced to, perhaps, a wider array of trees than they've seen firsthand.

Micallef said that an elementary school teacher he knows "was telling me that, in his trees unit, kids here in Las Vegas can only think of palm trees. But, in reality, if they look around, there are pine trees all over, there are cottonwoods, there are red maples. But they're just not towering oaks."

Whatever the species, the exhibit offers children the chance to learn about a variety of plant life that they may not have thought much about.

Marsha Hamilton spent a recent afternoon taking in the exhibit with her granddaughters Maya, 6, and Simone, 4. As Maya explored the inside of the giant tree trunk, Simone was trying to put on a squirrel costume for the green scene display.

"This is neat. We need to have something like this in the summer," Hamilton said.

"The whole idea of explaining trees is wonderful."

Micallef said reaction to the exhibit has been "really positive. I've had a number of people who have come up to me and told me how excited they were that we have something like this that's OK for the indoors and good for the (younger) kids."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.