Drawing and cutting out a tree from a large sheet of brown construction paper gives children a visual aid for understanding generosity. After reading "The Giving Tree" to the children, a teacher can show his students a large book of apple stickers, and tell them the class is going to practice appreciating kind deeds together. Any time one student catches another student being generous or loving, she should tell the teacher about it, and have the student showing generosity place a single apple sticker onto the large tree cutout. Over the course of several weeks, the number of apples on the tree will grow significantly. This helps children to understand that their acts of generosity among one another add up every day.
A nearby orchard provides a place for students to pick apples from trees, just like the little boy did in the story. The harvested apples can be brought to the school cafeteria kitchen, and baked into a few apple pies. The class can enjoy the pies together, or take them to other classrooms to practice generosity.
Volunteering with a single local organization for an extended period allows students to measure the direct impact they can make by practicing sustained generosity. A class can adopt a particular stretch of highway and keep it clean for the entire school year. The class can select a single family and raise money to provide it with food and other necessities over many months and years. The students can volunteer to help build homes in a nearby community, and watch as people move in and occupy them. Regardless of the community service project chosen, a teacher can remind students that the giving tree was generous with the little boy in the story for a long, long time.
"The Giving Tree" provides significant fodder for a group conversation centered on some of the feelings children experience on a regular basis. After reading the story aloud, kids can discuss three main topics, with their teacher serving as a discussion facilitator. First, the kids can discuss if they have ever felt lonely like the tree in the story felt. Second, they can discuss whether they believe the boy in the story was behaving selfishly. Third, they can discuss how it feels when they practice generosity.