Ayoung child might be heard saying that tree pushed the leaf off and it fell down. the child's belief that the tree is capable of action is referred to as

The child's belief that the tree is capable of action is referred to as : Animism 

In animism, people tend to believe every objects has a soul and conscience of their own which became the foundation of their spiritual belief. One of the example is the Mayan ancient culture that worship the Sun because they believe it's the one that brought prosperity to them by creating rains.