Little Sprouts Weekend: Week 7
Somewhere beneath an oak tree this October, something very small may be waiting on the ground.
Brown.
Smooth.
Wearing a tiny cap.
An acorn.
It doesn't look particularly impressive when you pick one up.
But inside is the beginning of something that could eventually tower above you.
So this weekend's acorn hunt starts with one question:
Can you find the beginning of an oak tree in the palm of your hand?
If you'd like more ideas for noticing the changing season, explore Autumn in Ireland: What to Notice and Do With Kids.
At a glance
Best for: Ages 3–9. Younger children can simply find and compare two acorns.
Time: 10–15 minutes
You will need: Nothing
Where: Park, woodland, garden, estate, school grounds or local walk with oak trees
Adult preparation: None, although it helps to know where your nearest oak tree grows!
Keep in mind: Acorns are small enough to be a choking risk, so stay close to younger children and keep finds out of mouths.
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This weekend's Little Sprouts adventure
1. Find an oak tree
Start by looking for an oak tree on a familiar walk.
If you're not sure which tree is an oak, look for its distinctive leaves.
Oak leaves have rounded lobes along their edges rather than one smooth outline.
At this time of year, though, the biggest clue might already be lying underneath it.
Acorns.
2. Look on the ground
Acorns fall through autumn and October is usually a good month to find them.
Look underneath and around the tree rather than pulling them from the branches.
Can you find:
- a whole brown acorn?
- an empty acorn cup?
- one still sitting inside its cup?
- one that has already been nibbled?
You don't need to collect lots.
One acorn is enough.
3. Look at it closely
Hold one acorn in your hand.
Feel the smooth shell.
Look at the rough little cup it sits inside.
Turn it around.
Then ask:
How can something this small become something so big?
You don't need to explain the answer immediately.
Give your child time to wonder about it first.
4. Compare what you find
If there are several acorns on the ground, compare them right where they lie.
Which is:
- biggest?
- smallest?
- darkest?
- smoothest?
Can you match any loose acorn cups with an acorn that fits?
5. Leave most of them behind
If you're somewhere you're allowed to collect and your child really wants to keep one, take just one or two.
Otherwise, put them back beneath the tree.
Acorns are part of the woodland's autumn food supply and leaving them behind gives wildlife, and the next generation of oak trees, their chance too.
If you found one acorn, held it in your hand and wondered about the tree inside it, the adventure counts.
No oak tree nearby?
You can still join in.
Look for another tree seed on your walk instead.
Perhaps a conker, hazelnut, sycamore key or another seed you recognise.
Ask the same question:
How does this tiny thing become a plant so much bigger than itself?
The acorn is our focus this week, but the noticing is more important than finding the exact object.
And if your walk turns into more of a listening walk, Listen to Autumn is another Little Sprouts adventure you can try.
One thing to remember
For this adventure, acorns, conkers and other wild plant finds are for investigating rather than eating.
Teach children not to put wild plant parts in their mouths, supervise younger children closely, and only collect from places where you have permission.
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The beginning of an oak
An acorn is the seed of an oak tree.
Inside its hard outer shell is an embryo, the tiny beginning of a new plant, along with stored food to help it start growing.
If an acorn lands somewhere with the right conditions, its first root can begin to emerge.
Later, a shoot follows.
And what began as something small enough to sit in a child's hand can, over many years, become one of the largest trees in the landscape.
Oak trees in Ireland can reach around 30 metres in height, with some growing taller.
Suddenly that little acorn feels a bit more remarkable.
Ireland's oak trees
Ireland has two native oak species:
sessile oak and pedunculate oak.
You don't need to identify which one you've found for this adventure.
But if your child enjoys looking for differences, there's a clue in the acorns.
Sessile oak acorns tend to grow close to the twig, while pedunculate oak acorns hang from longer stalks.
The Tree Council of Ireland describes sessile oak as the traditional Irish oak, and it can still be found in well known Irish oak woods including Killarney, Glenveagh and the Glen of the Downs.
Oak is woven into Irish place names too.
Kildare comes from Cill Dara, traditionally understood as the church of the oak, while Doire, as in Derry, means an oak wood or grove.
So when we say those names, the oak is hiding in the words as well as the landscape.
Who else is looking for acorns?
Your Little Sprout might not be the only one searching beneath the oak tree.
Acorns are an important autumn food.
Animals including squirrels and deer eat them.
And there is another particularly clever acorn collector:
the jay.
Jays gather acorns and bury them as food stores for later.
But they don't always return for every one.
Some forgotten acorns can germinate instead.
So a bird hiding its winter dinner can accidentally help plant the next generation of oak trees.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service even describes jays as oak tree cultivators because of this behaviour.
Next time you find an acorn somewhere unexpected, ask:
Did the tree drop this here... or did somebody carry it?
What happens after an acorn falls?
A ripe acorn doesn't always sit quietly waiting for spring.
If conditions are right, the first root can begin growing during autumn.
Much of that early work happens where we can't see it, below leaves and beneath the soil.
The landscape might look as though it is slowing down for winter.
But underneath the ground, another growing year may already be beginning.
Questions to wonder about together
Choose whichever questions catch your child's interest.
There are no test answers.
- How many acorns do you think this tree made?
- Why might an oak make more acorns than could ever become trees?
- Who do you think has been eating them?
- Where would be a good place for an acorn to land?
- How long do you think it would take before this acorn was taller than you?
And perhaps the loveliest:
What might this place look like if this acorn were still growing here when you're a grown-up?
One thing to notice before Sunday ends
If you don't get around to a proper walk, keep it tiny.
Find one acorn.
Hold it in your hand.
Look at the tree above you.
Then look back at the acorn.
One is the beginning of the other.
That's all you need to notice this weekend.
Nothing to make.
Nothing you have to bring home.
Just something very small that might one day become something enormous.
Because sometimes the next season, or the next hundred years, begins with something you could almost walk straight past.
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Frequently asked questions
When do acorns fall in Ireland?
Acorns ripen and fall during autumn.
Teagasc advises collecting oak acorns from September to November. Exact timing varies between trees, years and weather conditions, so you may find some trees dropping earlier or later than others.
How can children identify an acorn?
Acorns are the seeds of oak trees.
They have a smooth nut-like body and a textured cup at one end.
Look underneath an oak tree in autumn and you may find complete acorns, loose cups and acorns that have already been opened or eaten by wildlife.
Are acorns important for wildlife?
Yes.
Acorns are an autumn food source for several animals. In Ireland, squirrels and deer eat them, while jays collect and bury acorns as food stores.
Some of the acorns jays fail to retrieve may eventually grow into oak trees.
Do oak trees produce the same number of acorns every year?
No.
Oak crops vary considerably from year to year.
Teagasc notes that particularly abundant crops can occur roughly every two to five years. These bumper crops are often described as mast years.
Other years may produce far fewer acorns.
Can you grow an oak tree from an acorn?
Yes.
A viable ripe acorn can grow into an oak tree under suitable conditions.
Teagasc recommends sowing collected acorns promptly because they don't store well once they dry out.
For Little Sprouts Weekend, planting is completely optional.
Simply finding an acorn, looking closely and wondering about the tree it could become is enough.
