Why not explore your favourite exercise walk today with a textural sensory focus. This can be done alone or with your family and you will discover another level to the natural world around us. Focussing on just one sense, that of texture, it will open up new ways of experiencing a familiar space. It isn’t the most obvious sense to explore on a walk and yet has a lot to offer. Alternatively, after the rain we have had, it is a great time to try and charm worms from the ground.
Out and About – A Texture Journey
A texture journey is a walking activity to help you discover and explore different textures in nature.
You will need
A blank piece of fabric, calico works very well for this. You want something light in colour and fairly thick. If you can’t get any fabric you can use paper but be careful when it is wet.
Thick crayons, if you can get ones that you can use on their sides these work best.
A piece of fabric about 25cm x 25cm.
Try It:
Go on a journey and when you notice interesting textures take a rubbing of them with your crayon and fabric. Some textures look more interesting than they feel,have a good explore to find ones that are good! Some textures you will need to be very gentle with to capture, the fabric allows you to stretch over surfaces without ripping. See if you can make patterns, use different colours, overlay textures.
In the Garden – Worm Charming
Did you know? The annual Worm Charming World Championships have been held in the village of Willaston in Cheshire ever since 1980 when a local farmer’s son allegedly charmed 511 worms in 30 minutes! Worms respond to sound vibrations in their tunnels by coming to the surface.
Try it – Bang or stamp on the same bit of ground for long enough and you’re sure to meet some wrigglers. Make it competitive by setting out individual plots equal in size and challenge others to charm as many worms as possible in 5 minutes.
Be careful to store the worms safely in small containers of moist soil once they have been charmed. Count each stash at the end and declare a winner.
Staying at home – Sensory Fortune Teller
A fortune teller is a fun game to play with someone else. The one below focusses on the four senses and nature. However, you can make your own by folding a sheet of A4 paper as shown below and then filling in each section with your own nature theme. It could focus on just one form of nature e.g. trees, insects or birds. The questions at the centre should be as open ended as possible to make the other person think.
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