Sensing your Surroundings

Sometimes the most effective way to learn about the world around us is to play a game! Sure, doing research and taking time to make detailed observations is important too, but exploring through games can give us a certain vulnerability that allows us to see everyday nature in a new way. Here are a few games that can be a lot of fun to do with just a couple of people and help us to take in the world from a different perspective.

Games/Activities for the Five Senses

Just like most things in life, the more we practice, the better we will become. This is true for playing sports, picking up an instrument, and believe it or not, even our observation skills! A great to way to practice observing the world around us is to play games that involve our five senses and focus on each of them individually. You’ll be amazed at what you start to notice when you are out in nature if you are constantly exploring new ways to use your senses and challenging how you take in the world!

Sight

Sharp Eyes

• This game can be done indoors or outdoors. There can be as few as two people and as long as everyone has a partner, there is no limit on participants.
• Each set of partners stands about 4 feet from each other.
• On the signal, each person looks very carefully at their partner, on the second signal (after about 1 minute) the partners turn to face away from each other.
• While facing away from each other,  each person changes two things about their appearance (unbuttons a button, unties a shoelace, takes off jewelry, moves watch to other wrist, etc.).
• On the final signal, the partners face each other again and try to notice the two differences before the other person does.

Environmental variation: This game can also be played using a small space inside a home, or in a yard. Mark off an area that has enough going on in it that you can create some kind of variation. If you are inside, a bookshelf or display case will work well for this, if you are outside, perhaps a spot in the garden that has a lot of toys or rocks. Have one person observe the area for a set amount of time and then change some things about the area while they are not looking. See if they can spot the differences!

​Hearing
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Sound dropping

• This game can be done indoors or outdoors with two or more people. You may want to start indoors and then build up to doing it outside.
• One person stands with their hand behind a sheet while the other sits or stands so that they can’t see what is going on behind the sheet.
• The person behind the sheet chooses objects to drop while the other person tries to guess what the object is based on the sound it makes when hitting the floor.
  • Examples of household objects to drop include: coin, apple, tin can, lemon, stick, rock, cane, shoe, plastic cup, bouncy ball
  • After doing a few rounds in the house, you can take the game outdoors and experiment with some natural objects.

The person dropping the objects keeps track of how many the other participants guess correctly. They get one point for each correct guess. It is fun to go through all of the objects without sharing the points and then revealing the results at the end.

​Touch

Blind-fold Game

• This game can be done indoors or outdoors with two or more people.
• Everyone chooses a set of objects from around the house, or found around them in nature.
  • Examples of good objects to use: piece of bark, vegetable, piece of fur, moss, ice, seedpod, flowerhead, bird’s nest, animal, soil
• Everyone participating should be sitting and blindfolded, or closing their eyes, except for one person who is in charge of distributing the collected objects.
• The un-blindfolded person walks around with each object and participants take turns touching different objects with one finger and try to guess each object based on the one touch.
• Points are awarded based on each correct guess

Taste

Where is taste?

• Disclaimer – this is more of an experiment than a game
• What you’ll need:
  • 3 small cups of water
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Vinegar
  • 3 Toothpicks
• Step 1: Dissolve the sugar into one glass of water, the salt into the other, and the vinegar into the third glass
• Step 2: Soak a toothpick in each of the glasses of water for about one minute
• Step 3: Touch the toothpick lightly to different parts of the tongue and determine what part of the tongue picks up on each flavor the most!

 
Whoever is participating in the experiment should notice that the sugar flavor is most noticeable at the tip of the tongue, the salt on the tip and the sides, and the vinegar on the sides! Feel free to experiment with other flavors and see if they are more flavorful in different areas of the tongue.
           
Some other flavors to try: Lemon or lime juice, tomato, cucumber, mint, and just about anything edible you feel like experimenting with :)

​Smell

Onion Hunt

• This game can be done with two or more people outdoors and requires the use of an onion.
• One person lays out a trail a few minutes before the game begins – in a yard or area that it is OK to do this. The trail is made by rubbing a fresh-cut onion across tree trunks, telephone poles, walls, or other places.
• The other participants must follow the scent along the trail without getting lost.

 
Try to keep the hunt short so that the smell of the onion isn’t lost over time. You can add prizes, or treasure, to the end of the hunt as an incentive to keep trying!
 
Variation: Have participants map out the area where the hunt is being played. As they follow the scent of the onion, they can mark on their maps where the onion scent is the strongest and create a trail to lead others to the treasure!

All games are taken directly from or inspired by Learning About Nature Through Games ​by Virginia W. Musselman.