Today my son came to me with a sunflower leaf (from his sisters butterfly garden... shhhh) and told me that it was rough like sandpaper. We started talking about texture and all the different textures we find in nature. That sparked a texture walk. Since this one started with a leaf our walk had a leaf theme but it just as well could have been dirt, rocks, tree bark or all of the above.
We found rough, smooth, bummpy, fuzzy and so much more...
His favorite... the soft and fuzzy mint leaves.
But I think that is because he likes to nip a little taste while he is out to play, as evidence by the state of the mint leaves. There are advantages to ending your texture walk in the herb garden.
Other ideas:
~ Talk with your kids about texture and make a list of different textures before you head outside to find the textures on your list.
~ Choose a theme, like our leaf theme, and see how many different textures you can find within the theme.
~ Place some nature items in a bag then have the kids reach in to feel them and give a guess based on what they feel. Talk about how the texture helped them figure it out.
~ You could also do a color walk or a shape walk.
Do you have any other ideas for themed nature walks? We would love to hear about your walk.
Have fun in nature!
~Dawn
