The Native Americans who lived in our region were some of the first people to tap the sugar maple trees.  There are Native American legends written about the discovery of maple sap and its use in sweetening food. Our class read The Big Tree by Bruce Hiscock and Maple Moon by Connie Brummel Crook and Scott Cameron.  We learned a lot about when to tap a maple tree as well as interesting information about how leaves change colors.  Below is an explanation of how our class tapped maple trees in a sugar bush near our school.

Materials:

• a drill

• one nail

• about 18 inches of string

• a spout or spile

• a hammer

• a one gallon milk jug with a lid and a slit cut at the top of the handle

• a sugar maple tree

Use a field guide to help locate a sugar maple tree.  Then use a drill to drill a hole just until you see the sap beginning to run.

Then hammer the spile or spout into the tree until it is secure.

Hammer a nail about two inches above the spile.

Secure the jug with a string that is tied to the nail above the spile.  The sap runs best when there are warm days and cold nights.  Come back the next day to collect the sap.  Then you can make maple syrup.  It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

    Click on the pancakes to learn how to make maple syrup.

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