Maple Syrup: Let memories and learning flow

Making maple syrup at your school may seem like a daunting prospect. You may have seen syruping operations, including some impressive school-based projects, with thousands of taps, vacuum feed sap systems and more stainless steel than your central kitchen. Those operations are impressive and offer some unique education opportunities, but to capture the essentials of maple syrup as a classroom activity, all it really takes is one or two suitable nearby trees, some basic knowledge, and some dedication.

To explore syruping on a smaller scale, we caught up with Adam Gould, Cambridge School Forest Coordinator and 2022 School Forest Award winner.

How long have you been making maple syrup at the school?

I have collected sap with our fourth graders at the elementary school the last two years. Each class puts two taps in a tree, collects sap over a few days, and then myself and a volunteer boil it in the school garden for an entire day which allows everyone in the school to come out and see what is going on.

How much sap do you collect?

We have collected from 10-12 gallons, which boils down to just enough for each student to get a taste. The syrup is enjoyed by the 4th graders in their classrooms on the final day. The whole process takes 3 - 7 days depending on the weather and how fast the sap is flowing.

What does it take to get started?

Supplies can be obtained for free from Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association, including a hands-on kit and a beginner’s book. We also have a staff member at the school who harvests syrup on a large scale, so she provides plenty of supplies and knowledge. You can get pretty specific when boiling the sap using a hydrometer and thermometer to reach exact temperatures and sugar content, but using a wood fire has its limits. Boiling on a stove would be more exact, but not nearly as much fun. We really just boil it to a consistency that looks and smells like syrup. No two batches are the same.

How do you pick which trees to tap?

We have used the same trees the last two years. Any maple at least 12 inches in diameter measured about five feet up the trunk will work, but Sugar Maples are certainly the best. The trees we use are well over 20 inches in diameter and can handle more than one tap. The best time to tap is when daytime temperatures are around 40 degrees with nighttime temps around 20 degrees. This requires some flexibility in scheduling lessons as Mother Nature has the final say!

How does this activity support classroom learning?

Cambridge uses the activity as a follow-up to the curriculum covered at the beginning of the year, including Wisconsin History, agriculture, and natural resources topics. The 4th grade teacher uses some of the resources from Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association, which has tons of links and standards covered.

WMSPA First Tapping event

The Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association (WMSPA) will hold its annual First Tree Tapping event starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 14, 2026, at Bauer Valley Maple in Cazenovia, WI.

The event, which kicks off Maple Month in Wisconsin, is open to the public and includes sugarbush tours.

There are many other maple syrup events throughout the state that can be found at wismaple.org.

View WMSPA Event Calendar

Trees for Tomorrow Maple Syrup Basics Workshop

Trees For Tomorrow (TFT) environmental educator and maple syrup aficionado Todd Starling will lead a hands-on maple syrup–making workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 21, 2026, at TFT in Eagle River.

Participants will learn the sugaring process step-by-step from identifying and tapping trees and collecting sap, to boiling the sap and bottling a final product.

Registration is $55 per individual or $70 per couple/pair, and includes a sap kit and a beginner how-to book.

What’s your advice to teachers who may want to try syruping at their schools?

We are so glad we started this in 2024. It can seem a bit overwhelming at first, but keeping it simple and securing some volunteers certainly makes it worthwhile. With some simple outreach, I bet most districts have someone nearby that either has tapped or is currently tapping trees. Even without a resident "expert", the process is really straightforward. We are fortunate that Georgia (school forest volunteer) and I can dedicate a full day to boiling the sap down, and it is great exposure for all of the students as we do it in the school garden adjacent to the playground, so all of the students are outside and see what is going on. This is one of those activities that the kids will remember far longer than some lesson out of a textbook.

Related Resources

If, like the Cambridge's educators, you're tying the syrup experience in with Wisconsin History, check out LEAF's 4th Grade Forestry Lesson Guide, which focuses on Wisconsin forest history.
For resources related to tree dentification, check out LEAF's Tree ID Tools and Tree ID Kit.

For a variety of resources about how how Wisconsin's sugarbush is changing, including earlier tapping seasons and forest health changes, check out this new resource collection from UW-Extension's Maple Syrup Program.

Kit spotlight - Edible forests

If you asked your students to name three foods found in Wisconsin forests, how many of them would struggle to come up with anything beyond maple syrup?

Investigate the wide range of plants that can be foraged or cultivated in wild spaces in our Edible Forest Kit. The kit is newly expanded with the brand-new lesson "Foraging Through the Seasons" and an accompanying copy of Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass.

Check out the Edible Forest Kit

Celebrate Black Professionals in Green Careers

Celebrate Black History Month this month by showcasing some of the Black professionals working in the forest and conservation sectors.

LEAF’s Journeys Guide Kit gives you resources to introduce your students to green careers while celebrating the paths of many historical and current environmental heroes.

This kit contains a class set of the book Black Faces in Green Spaces: The Journeys of Black Professionals in Green Careers, as well as links to other forest-focused career resources.

We also share this excellent resource with participants in our Teaching about Careers in the Forest online course.

Check out the Journeys Kit

Teaching about Careers course

Professional Development

In-Person Trainings

Project Learning Tree: Explore Your Environment | April 11 | Wausau
Math in the Forest | April 25 | Tomahawk

Leaves, Light and Learning: Early Childhood Education in the Outdoors | April 27 | Franklin

On-Demand Trainings

LEAF On-Demand, Online Offerings

Project Learning Tree On-Demand, Online Offerings

Project Learning Tree: Explore Your Environment

You don’t need a large school forest to give your students meaningful forest-based learning experiences!

Join LEAF’s urban forestry expert to try out activities that are perfect to use with the trees right out your school door. Participants in this training will receive PLT’s award-winning Explore Your Environment K-8 activity guide with over 50 multidisciplinary activities that are connected to learning standards.

We will focus on K-5 activities and will talk about how to safely integrate outdoor learning into your school day. Come dressed for the weather—we will be going outside!

Cost: $20

Date & Time: 9 a.m. - noon, Saturday, April 11, 2026

Location: Northcentral Technical College, Wausau, WI

Learn more about this training

Math in the Forest

Join LEAF and Kevin Freitag, a math teacher for Birchwood School District, for this hands-on workshop for high school math teachers focused on outdoor applications of algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

In addition to inspiring ideas, you'll also get mathematics-related lesson materials to take back to your classroom. Participants will use geometry to understand the mathematics behind making and using a Biltmore stick to measure tree diameter, and will make their own Biltmore stick and use it to collect data in the forest. Other topics will include basal area per acre, wildlife population estimates, and land measurement.

Date: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Saturday, April 25, 2026

Location: UWSP Treehaven, Tomahawk

Cost: $60 (includes Treehaven's renowned home-style lunch)

WSST Preview

Heading to the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers (WSST) Conference Thursday - Saturday, March 12-14, in Appleton? We’d love to see you there!

Join us at a LEAF or KEEP session, or stop by our exhibit table to say hi!

Tree Identification: Beyond the Leaf Collection | Thursday 9-11 a.m.
A Forest of Opportunity: Exploring Diverse Forestry Careers | Thursday 11 a.m. -noon
Balancing Carbon Sources and Sinks | Thursday 1-2:45 p.m.
Connect, Explore, Engage: Bridging Science and Sustainability in the Classroom | Friday 8-9 a.m.
Poetry in the Science Class | Friday 8-9 a.m.
AgriSolar Innovations: Exploring the Dual-Use of Land for Agriculture and Energy | Friday 2-3 p.m.
Branching Out: Engaging Students in Tree Seed Collection and Wisconsin’s Reforestation Efforts | Saturday 10-11 a.m.

Register now for WAEE Celebration of Excellence

The Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education’s (WAEE) Annual Celebration of Excellence will be held at Escuela Verde in Milwaukee on April 11, 2026!

The award program acknowledges and encourages outstanding individuals and groups in their contributions to the field of environmental education. WAEE recognizes schools, youth groups, individual students, educators, and administrators for outstanding environmental efforts each year.

LEAF's Wisconsin School Forest Awards and KEEP’s Energy Educator of the Year will be recognized at the celebration, so we hope you will join us to recognize the impact all these awardees have made!

WFC Forestry Skills Camp application are open!

Thinking about a career in the forest industry?

Wisconsin Forestry Center's Forestry Skills Camp will be held June 14-19, 2026, at the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station in Amherst Junction. Applications will be accepted through March 27, 2026.

The camp is an immersive training experience for high school students offering three training paths. Each path is taught by professionals in the industry, allowing participants to learn more about the careers that are available in forestry and forest products.

This camp is designed to build skills used in forest industries and provides one forestry credit at UWSP. The camp fee is $450. Reach out to wfc@uwsp.edu with any questions.

Learn more about WFC's Forestry Skills Camp

Have questions or need additional resources? Contact us at leaf@uwsp.edu. We are here to support educators and students with forestry opportunities.

Workshops

Kits

Curriculum

Published for February 2026