Downloadable 'Tree Explorer's Handbook' helps kids explore Bay Area trails

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- If you really want to enjoy the outdoors it can make a lot of sense to leave your phone or iPad behind. But other times, it may add to the adventure to bring it along.

Zionne Fox and her daughters Rya and Zahava are about to hit the trail in a beautiful stretch of Berkeley's Tilden Park, and the trees and animals they meet are likely to come alive in new ways. That's thanks to a new downloadable guide created by the Peninsula Open Space Trust: "The Tree Explorers Handbook."

"Post created this 'Tree Explorer's Handbook,' because we wanted to find really accessible ways to inspire curiosity and a deeper connection to nature. And the idea of focusing on trees. What were you? What was up? What's the goal? So, trees are everywhere, so they're real accessible way to experience and be with nature," said Fox, who is director of Relational Conservation at the Trust.

The book can be printed or downloaded to a phone or iPad. It overflows with lessons about California tree species, the insects and animals that depend on them and the diversity of life in the forest.

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"Yeah. I mean, the trees or flowers are, like, different and a ton of different places," said Fox's daughter Rya.

And out on the trail, the interactive lessons can help a young reader to identify what they're seeing and maybe even take home a record of it. The book offers pages that allow the user to transfer the pattern of tree bark using a pencil.

"And you can do a lot of different prints from different trees," Rya said.

Zionne and her colleagues at the Open Space Trust are hoping the book inspires young adventurers, and maybe even environmental scientists of the future.

"A parent can read it to younger kids and inspire curiosity. And that's just something kids are attuned to," Fox said.

You can download the handbook from the Peninsula Open Space Trust website or here.