Aim
To demonstrate how participants can use their sense of touch to perceive their natural environment and improve their powers of description.
Age Range
All Ages Std. I – VII
Location
Classroom/Outdoors
Subject(s)
Social Science, Geography, Science, English
Materials
A cloth bag or manga. An object from the natural environment with an interesting shape or feel.
Group size
Small group/whole class
Time required
15 – 25 minutes
Skills practiced
Observation by touch, descriptive and language skills.
Activity description
This is a simple game in which participants must put their hand inside a bag to feel an object inside. Then participants must describe how the object feels using one word that has not been said by participants before them.
Procedure
1. Choose items from the natural environment that have an interesting shape or feel. Examples may include a smooth shiny seed, a rough piece of bark, a bumpy piece of termite nest, a smooth stone, a soft flower, or the shell of a snail. Make sure that whatever you choose cannot harm participants (no sharp objects or live animals)! The teacher should collect these items ahead of time.
2. Place one item in a cloth bag or wrap it in a kanga so that you cannot see the object from the outside.
3. Ask the participants to sit in circle. Explain to the participants they must put one hand inside the bag and gently feel the object. Encourage the participants not to break or crush the item in the bag. Having felt the object, the participant must say one word to describe how the object feels (NOT what s/he thinks it is). The participant then passes the bag to the next participant, who repeats the exercise giving a different word to describe how the object feels.
4. Once the bag has been all the way around the circle, ask each participant to guess what he or she thinks the item is.
5. Now take the item out of the bag, and pass it around the circle again. Encourage the participants to feel and look closely at the item and say what it is.
6. You can repeat the game using a different item.
Analysis and Follow-up Activity
1. Ask the participants to draw the item and write a description of what it is and where it comes from.
2. Use the item as an exhibit on a discovery table. A discovery table is simply a table or area of the classroom where interesting, beautiful, or strange natural objects can be displayed. The idea is to encourage participants to touch, feel, smell, hold, and shake natural items. Try to find unusual objects and see if the participants can guess where the item comes from—a good example of this is a piece of termite nest. Leave the items on display, and encourage participants to bring in items they may find to show to the rest of the group.