Earlier in the week we started talking about using our sense of hearing while we explored our Sound Garden. Later, we took our ears on a nature walk to discover what makes sound outside!
The rules were simple:
The rules were simple:
- Walk....walk...walk
- STOP!
- Listen....what do you hear?
- Try to look to see what is making the noise.
- Draw a picture of what you heard.
- Start all over again!
It was really neat to see my 3 year old actually pay attention to the sounds around him. I thought for sure he would forget what we were doing and just run and play, but he would really walk a little bit, stop, and say LISTEN! He was super excited to record what he heard by drawing it on the paper I brought along. After he drew his picture (not his best talent =) I had him try to write the word for what he drew. It was really a great multi-subject activity!
Here is a picture of the paper he drew his observations on...
I'm not sure what the first box was. The second box was a bird. The two lines coming out from it was it tweeting (I thought that was creative of him to think of). The middle left box was a jeep (there were lots of cars driving by since we started our walk from our front door =). The middle right box was...a box. I don't know, some humming thing that's next to our condo. It was definitely making noise, even thought it's not very 'natural.' The bottom left box was a tree. He said that he heard the wind blowing through it...creative again! Then lastly, we heard a woodpecker even though we couldn't see it.
So if the weather is starting to be nicer in your area like it is in mine, grab a sketchbook and head outside with your kids. Have them close their eyes and take in nature with their ears!
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