Sensory Awareness - Listening
This is one of a small set of simple activities, more suited to children aged 3 to 5 years of age, or perhaps a bit older, which has the children developing a 'sensory' understanding of the forest environment.
There are several activities which the children can get involved in, all of which are explained on this page. Some activities are easier than others, but there should be something for even the most 'difficult to please' child !
Capturing the sounds of the forest.
This is an activity that can be done anywhere, however let's imagine you are in a forest ...
Ask the children find a quiet space where they can sit (or lie) comfortably. Ask them to stay silent for five minutes and to just listen to the sounds of the forest. Every time they hear a new sound, 'capture' the sound by closing one finger over their palm and imagine 'holding' the sound there. They should try to remember what that sound was.
After a few minutes, bring the group together, and ask the children, one at a time, to 'release' a sound, by lifting one finger. As they let the sound go, they should try to describe what the sound was. What did it sound like ? What do they think caused or made the sound ?
During this activity, the children will be developing skills in listening, using descriptive language and spending mindful time in nature.
This is a nice activity to do as part of a session, and can be repeated on numerous occasions.
Step 2 - 'Catch' the sounds
Step 3 - Release the sounds and describe what was heard.
Extending the activity
This task lends itself well to extension activities.
The children could create a 'sound map' for where each sound is coming from and draw a picture/ symbol for each sound they captured. (Development of art skills and also of science).
Older children could write descriptive poetry about the sounds they heard. (Developing literacy skills).
They could make up stories to link together the different sounds they heard. (Developing literacy skills).
They could conduct scientific investigations to work out the time taken for the sounds to reach the listener. (Development of knowledge and understanding of physics).
Create recordings of the natural sounds. (Development of IT skills).
Create a rainstorm sound scape. (Development of team working and imagination)
They could devise a piece of music using instruments that recreate the sounds of the forest. They could even try creating instruments from things they find in the forest. (Development of music appreciation and composition of musical pieces).
Bits and pieces, found in the forest, can become a mini orchestra !
Try it ! Listen to this video for just a few minutes, and see how many sounds you capture. (If you enjoy it, the whole video lasts 2 hours, and is very soothing !)
Create a sound-scape
Be a conductor for the day !
This is a good activity for teamworking. Taking rain as an example, ask the children how they could use their bodies (but not their voices) to make the following sounds ...
Very light rain (drizzle)
Light rain (small dripping sounds)
Persistent rain (a little bit louder)
Thunder.
Then nominate someone to 'conduct' the rain-storm, starting with very light rain, and gradually building up to a thunder storm, before eventually returning, through the 'phases' of the storm to light rain.
You could do the same with any soundscape ... city life, big machines in a factory, or whatever ideas you might come up with. In some cases, you can add vocalisations and movement to bring the sound-scape to life.
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Coming up with the sounds.
Ideally, let the children come up with their own ideas about how they might make the various sounds. There is an example of this activity below. Click the "How this could be done" button below. (And apologies for the poor sound !)
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Conducting the orchestra
Conducting the orchestra is a great opportunity to work on non-verbal communication skills. You can conduct the whole group, parts of the group, or individuals within the group using hand signals that, again, the group can come up with. Click the "How you might conduct a mini orchestra" button below to see this in action, and, again, apologies for the poor sound !
Outdoor and Woodland Learning, Scotland.
Click the image to open the webpage for OWLS, an organisation dedicated to increasing opportunities for outdoor learning in and around woodlands. There are some terrific resources !
