Tree of Life...an intro

One of our ongoing Big Room projects is the Tree Of Life.

We spend some time thinking about creation...how life came into being on our fine blue planet. We explore what science can tell us about life on earth, and we also consider the stories that various cultures have developed over thousands of years to explain the existence of people.

Many creation myths imaginatively describe a tree that is essential for life to occur.

Interestingly, the science of evolution describes an entirely different kind of tree of life...A family tree including all the interrelated forms of life, spanning hundreds of millions of years.

Some kids like to write their own creation stories.

Most all like to make a critter or a plant out of sculpey to add to the tree.

All forms of life are welcome on the tree...with these rules:

They have to have lived at some point on earth...dinosaurs, okay...dragons, not this time...

Or, they have to represent something that could evolve from something living on earth.We love hearing the stories of our evolved sculpey critters, because even with the rules, we get some highly unusual life forms!