Resources
Paper folded in quarters and pencils for each child
Where
Potentially anywhere. Good places—Skinny
Woods, Hawkhill Wood,
Innocent Walkway, Craigmillar
Castle Park (these are all away from traffic)
Why
The object of this
activity is to focus our attention on what’s happening in the
surroundings, rather than focussing on what we are doing in our
surroundings. It also encourages children to use their hearing, rather
than just their eyesight, in exploring their environment. Sometimes
animals may be seen or heard that don’t usually appear when people are
running around and being noisy! Can be quite a powerful experience for
some.
How
In a clearing, hand out the paper and pencils to each child. Encourage the children
to find a space where they can’t see anybody else (e.g. with their
backs to each other). Ask them to open out their paper, and draw a
circle where the creases meet in the middle. This circle is them. Ask
them to sit very still and quietly, and to listen to the sounds around
them. When they hear a sound, they should mark it with a picture or a
symbol on their paper, in the direction that they heard it coming from,
and near or far from their circle, depending on whether the sound is
near or far away.
Younger
children can sit in a circle, close their eyes, and put up a finger for
each sound they hear, rather than drawing a map.
To finish, you
can ask how many sounds people heard, or which was their favourite
sound, etc.
This exercise can be repeated in different surroundings to compare the
sounds heard in each area. |
