Nature is all around us. No matter where you are, if you take some time to look around you may be surprised as to what you find—an ant crawling on the sidewalk, a bird flying overhead, a tree blowing in the breeze.
This week’s the challenge is to spend ten minutes outside observing nature.
- Try to pick a quieter time of day when there isn’t a lot of traffic or noisy leaf blowers.
- Take a piece a paper with you and record your observations with words or drawings.
- Take a picture of your spot.
- What do you see?
- Look up, look down, look all around.
- What kind of plants do you see? Are there any flowers in bloom?
- What kinds of animals do you see? (i.e. birds, mammals, insects, spiders, etc.) What are they doing?
- Anything else strike you?
- What do you hear?
- Do you hear any animals?
- Is there any wind? What sounds it making?
- Do you hear any water?
- Can you hear the leaves crunching underfoot?
- What other sounds are there?
- What do you smell?
- What does the air smell like?
- Pick up a fallen leaf. What does it smell like?
- Pick a blade of grass. What does it smell like?
- Are there any flowers in bloom? What do they smell like?
- What do you taste?
- Taste is sometimes a trickier sense when you aren’t eating, but give it try. What does the air taste like?
- What do you feel?
- What is the weather like? (i.e. hot, cold, windy, rainy, sunny, etc.)
- Touch a tree. What does the bark feel like?
- Touch the grass, touch a leaf. What do they feel like?
Hopefully you’ll find this an enjoyable experience and you’ll notice new things.
If possible repeat your observations in the same spot at a different time of day.
- Are there more animals out and about in the morning, afternoon, or evening?
- Does the air feel any different?
- Are there different sounds?
Submit your observations here!