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Wood

A leopard climbing down a tree. Some animals sleep in trees because they provide shade, or hide in trees behind the leaves.
A leopard climbing down a tree. Some animals sleep in trees because they provide shade, or hide in trees behind the leaves.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Click here for the license
The rings inside a tree, one for each year of growth.
The rings inside a tree, one for each year of growth.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Click here for the license
Logs being floated down the river to transport them to where they can be cut up and made into things
Logs being floated down the river to transport them to where they can be cut up and made into things
Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Click here for the license

This is a super useful and natural material that comes from trees. It's the strong stuff that makes up the trunk and branches, helping the tree stand tall so its branches can spread its leaves out so they can drink in the sun for energy.

If you look closely at wood, you can often see beautiful lines and patterns called 'grain'. This shows how the tree grew! We use wood to make all sorts of things.

Objects:

Pencils, tables, chairs, fences, paper, bookshelves. Some houses are also made of wood.

Properties:

Wood is usually...

  • Hard (not squishy)
  • Stiff (it's not bendy)
  • Opaque (a fancy word that means you can't see through it)
  • It can feel rough to touch, but it can be sanded to feel smooth

💡 Fun Facts

  • Wood floats on water, which is why people have used it to make boats for thousands of years!
  • If you look at the end of a log, you can often see rings. You can count these rings to find out how many years old the tree was when it was cut down.
  • Long before plastic was invented, most toys, like spinning tops and dolls, were carved from wood.
  • Some wood, like pine, can have a lovely, fresh smell.
  • Wood is strong, but it is not waterproof. It soaks up water, which makes it feel damp and can make it swell up. We sometimes paint or varnish wood to make it waterproof.