Building Activities:
Fun Ways to Get Started Building Treehouses
treehouse builders toolkit
Welcome Treehouse Builders
Building treehouses offers you the opportunity to publish work online that is related to the study of organisms and biodiversity. From butterflies and frogs to dinosaurs and fungi, treehouses are for celebrating and exploring the diversity of Life on Earth.
We have eight main categories of treehouses that you can choose to contribute, but feel free to mix and match treehouse types to suit your needs and ideas.
For help with composing your treehouse use the other sections of the Treehouse Builders Toolkit.
Let's Build Treehouses!
Do you have some great images to share or stories to tell about your favorite organisms? Want some ideas and activities for neat projects to do outdoors, in the classroom and online? Click the links to the left to see some of our suggestions for building treehouses.
If you have any questions, ideas or projects that you think would benefit from publishing work and studying biodiversity on-line contact Lisa Schwartz at
to discuss collaborating. If you are located in or around Tucson, Arizona we may be able to help you get started building treehouses with a classroom visit or a treehouse building workshop.
Below is a brief explanation of each category. For more information and ideas see each treehouse type's page.
investigation iconInvestigations
Choose an investigation to publish a:
- Science experiment or project
- Field study
- Scientific investigation or research study
- Science journal entry
- Scientific observation of an organism
Stories
Publish your story! We are looking for:
- Nonfiction and fictional stories, from accounts of neighborhood wildlife to tales of life as a lion
- Stories about your experiences exploring organisms in the field, classroom or lab
- Picture books
- News stories and interviews
Fun and Games
Let's play! Some examples of games we would like you to contribute are:
- Computer games
- Playground games
- Card games
- Trivia games
- Game cards
Art and Culture
Some examples of art and culture contributions we welcome are:
- Instructions on how to create organism related arts and crafts projects
- Poems and songs
- Folk remedies for various ailments, recipes for the kitchen
- Descriptions of economic and cultural use of organisms (such as corn, reindeer, scarab beetles, silk worms)
- A multimedia gallery or "art exhibit"
Teacher Resources
Add materials to guide teaching and learning such as:
- Units, lessons and activities
- Assessments
- Glossary word lists
- Materials to guide student exploration
- Print, media and internet resources
WebQuests
Create an inquiry oriented and web-based activity for learners. WebQuests guide learners to information resources on the Internet, and present a task for them to accomplish. Learners are expected to transform the information that they gather in order to address a relevant or real world problem. WebQuests help to guide and contextualize learning to maximize student engagement in the learning process.
biography iconBiographies
Here you can pen a biography of a scientist. We will attach scientist biographies to researchers' favorite groups. If you are a biologist, please tell us about yourself and the exciting work that you do. We welcome contributions from scientists of diverse backgrounds and unusual life paths.
portfoliosPortfolios
Create a portfolio to present treehouses you have built as a complementary group of materials.