Look Closely

Today was a day for noticing things we sometimes miss and I was proud of how the children discovered many things.

We started with the beautiful poem picture book called 'Step Gently Out' by Helen Frost, with close-up photos taken by Rick Lieder. They encouraged us to be still and watch to discover the hidden world of insects.

Time to bring out the magnifying glasses! After looking closely at our fingers and clothing fabric, we walked to the forest and the beach with the aim of looking closely at the branches, leaves, grass and anything else to see what we could discover.

Who would have thought that the short walk would reveal so many beautiful and interesting treasures? Gold in branches, running ants, diamonds in the sand, little feathers, shiny spots, sticky webs, fat veins in plants.... when we look closely, the world is a fascinating place!

We walked to a section of beach where we hadn't yet visited and were delighted to find a water tunnel. It made booming echoes when we yelled into it! (Listen to the video.) Some day, we should get torches to explore.

The rain took us by surprise and ended our time at the beach with a quick walk back to base.

After lunch, we continued to look closely, using our magnifying glasses to play 'I Spy' with many of the treasures we'd found and collected at the forest and beach.

We also painted and created crayon rubbings or tracings of the found objects. There are some creative artists in this group!

After tidying up for the end of our time together, we practised 'looking closely' with our other senses - this time our ears. The goal was to listen very carefully in a game of Granny's Keys to hear who was crawling to steal them from under Granny's chair. It was hard to hear people - they moved so stealthily!


Ideas for home:

- Spend time outside and look closely. You don't need a magnifying glass to discover many hidden wonders when you spend time quietly outdoors.

- Why not sketch what you find?

- Found art can be fun too. Collect leaves, twigs and other small things you find. Then arrange them to make a shape you like and glue them down onto paper. You might want to spray it with hairspray or paint it with glue afterwards to make it shiny. You could also paint it all one colour so people notice the textures.

- The book we read is of a poem. Can you try to write a poem about something you notice when you look closely in nature? Perhaps one of the photos will give you ideas. If you do write one, share it with us!