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Sensory Nature Journal
- Discovering Nature in Your Neighborhood
- Creating Art with Nature
- Dripping Faucet Art
- A Water Tale
- A Bee's Day Adventure
- A Nesting Tale
- A Leaf's Journey
- A Pot Plant Investigation
- A Tree Investigation
- A Silent Sensory Walk Outdoors
- A Silent Sensory Walk Indoors
- A Creative Flower Study
- A Web Safari
- Discovering Lumbricus Terrestris
- Art and Lumbricus Terrestris
- Animal Vision Exploration
- Outdoor Underfoot Sensory Exploration
- Indoor Underfoot Sensory Exploration
- Story of an Insect's Grassy Home
- Grass: Story of a Magical Mat
- A Sensory Plant Growing Adventure
- Historic Building Stone Exploration
- Sidewalk Rock Hunt
- Capturing Nature in Verse
- Weather Watcher Challenge
- Cloud Explorer and Sketcher
- Moon Watcher
- Daytime Moon Investigation
- Outdoor Weed Investigation
- Online Weed Investigation
- Reflections on Nature
Discovering Nature in Your Neighborhood
Hey, young Nature Detective! Today, you're going on an exciting adventure to discover nature in your neighborhood using your senses. You can find nature anywhere. However, depending on where you live, you may have to look harder to uncover it. This adventure will help you discover nature no matter where you live. If you need assistance, enlist an observation partner and embrace this multi-sensory experience together!
What You'll Need:
- Curiosity and Imagination
- Nature Journal, and pencils
- Braille slate and stylus
- (Tactile) drawing paper
- Favorite drawing tools
- Tactile markers
- Comfortable shoes for walking
- Optional: camera or phone with a recording app
- Optional: family member or friend to assist
Instructions:
Step 1. Write a List:
In your Nature Journal or braille slate, list things you want to discover in your neighborhood—for example, is it a particular bird species, plant, bug, or something else?
Step 2. Sensory Exploration:
It's now time to explore your neighborhood. Grab your observation partner, and let this multi-sensory adventure begin! Equip yourself with a camera or phone to record what you discover. Allow the inquiry to develop by touching, smelling, listening, and seeing the evidence around you.
For example:
Your senses are key to uncovering the richness of your surroundings! What other things can you discover in your neighborhood using them?
Step 3. Create a Record:
Document your thoughts and sensory discoveries by writing or sketching your observations in your Nature Journal, braille slate, or on (tactile) drawing paper. This way, when you want to revisit the specifics of your investigation, you'll have this document as a handy reference.
Step 4. Photography Documentation (optional):
If you have a camera or phone, take pictures of what you discover during your investigation. Note the date, time, and location in your Nature Journal, braille slate, or using voice notes.
Step 5. Collaborative Discoveries:
If you collaborated with an observation partner, share and discuss your findings. Document this information in your Nature Journal or braille slate, including any sensory observations made throughout the exploration.
Step 6. Questions:
Write the answers to the following questions in your Nature Journal or braille slate.
Step 7. Share Your Discoveries:
Have fun sharing what you learned with your family, friends, and others important to you! It's incredible how sharing your discoveries with others can spark a brainstorm of new ideas!
Conclusion:
Wow, Nature Detective, you did it! You've cracked the case! From the city to your doorstep, nature's everywhere! This activity has uncovered how nature and urban landscape coexist in your neighborhood. Whether you touched or captured it on camera, your exploration offered a unique perspective on the natural world. Keep exploring, young Nature Detective!
Image credit: Photograph by Oleh Tsyb
In your Nature Journal or braille slate, list things you want to discover in your neighborhood—for example, is it a particular bird species, plant, bug, or something else?
Step 2. Sensory Exploration:
It's now time to explore your neighborhood. Grab your observation partner, and let this multi-sensory adventure begin! Equip yourself with a camera or phone to record what you discover. Allow the inquiry to develop by touching, smelling, listening, and seeing the evidence around you.
For example:
- Touch: Feel the textures of your neighborhood, whether it is leaves, the bark of a tree, a light pole, or a wall. Describe the textures.
- Smell: Take a deep breath and notice the scents around you. Can you detect the scent of flowers, or does the smell of traffic dominate?
- Listen: What do you hear, urban clamor or sounds of birds and insects? If you are deaf or hard of hearing, focus on the visual and tactile cues.
- Sight: Observe nature's colors, neighborhood patterns, and shapes. Can you see plants growing in unusual places, like popping out of the pavement or a brick wall? If you have low or no vision, use your other senses to explore and describe what you can.
Your senses are key to uncovering the richness of your surroundings! What other things can you discover in your neighborhood using them?
Step 3. Create a Record:
Document your thoughts and sensory discoveries by writing or sketching your observations in your Nature Journal, braille slate, or on (tactile) drawing paper. This way, when you want to revisit the specifics of your investigation, you'll have this document as a handy reference.
Step 4. Photography Documentation (optional):
If you have a camera or phone, take pictures of what you discover during your investigation. Note the date, time, and location in your Nature Journal, braille slate, or using voice notes.
Step 5. Collaborative Discoveries:
If you collaborated with an observation partner, share and discuss your findings. Document this information in your Nature Journal or braille slate, including any sensory observations made throughout the exploration.
Step 6. Questions:
Write the answers to the following questions in your Nature Journal or braille slate.
- Did you discover all the things you set out to uncover? What did you find out about them using your senses?
- How did using your senses during this adventure connect you to the natural elements of your neighborhood?
- Did you uncover any hidden or unexpected secrets about your neighborhood's history or ecology that you weren't aware of before? How did using your senses help you discover them?
- What natural sounds did you hear during your adventure, and which stood out against the urban soundscape? If you used vibrations or visual cues, how did they affect your understanding of the surroundings?
- In what ways has this adventure changed your understanding of how nature and the urban landscape coexist?
Step 7. Share Your Discoveries:
Have fun sharing what you learned with your family, friends, and others important to you! It's incredible how sharing your discoveries with others can spark a brainstorm of new ideas!
Conclusion:
Wow, Nature Detective, you did it! You've cracked the case! From the city to your doorstep, nature's everywhere! This activity has uncovered how nature and urban landscape coexist in your neighborhood. Whether you touched or captured it on camera, your exploration offered a unique perspective on the natural world. Keep exploring, young Nature Detective!
Image credit: Photograph by Oleh Tsyb
