University of Maine Cooperative Extension   4-H Earth Connections "Creating Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century"
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AGE LEVEL = 8-10 (5-12) DURATION = 40-60 min. LEARNING STATION = Classroom, Anywhere RELATED ACTIVITY = ←→ Blindfold Walk WHEN =

UNDERSTANDING: When our primary sense of sight is removed, other senses take over.

SPECIAL NOTES: The setting and purpose for using this activity will help determine what types of objects to select. Everyone can have a similar object, or the objects can be mixed. For example, leaves can be used to introduce a lesson on tree identification, or rocks can be used as an introduction to geology.

MATERIALS:

• A blindfold for each child (see Activity A)

• Several similar objects such as leaves, wood, seeds, cones, rocks, or feathers, one for each child

• Several additional objects for the wrap-up

PREPARATION: Gather the objects and make the blindfolds.

LESSON:

Warm-up: Sit in a sharing circle. Discuss how people rely on their senses and how sight is our primary sense. Explain that the group will be exploring some objects without using their sight.

Tell the children that you will not be giving them anything that can harm them, and that the goal is to know their object so well they will be able to select it from a large group of objects later.

Activity: Pass out the blindfolds. After the children have them on, give each child one object. Ask the children to learn as much as they can about their object. You may want to ask questions to lead their exploration, such as: How big is the object compared to your hand? Is it lighter than a ping pong ball? Heavier than an orange? Is it rough or smooth? Hard or soft? Does it have any holes or indentations in it? Is the texture uniform or does it vary? What does it smell like? Does it remind you of a letter of the alphabet? Could a spider live in it? Create other questions yourself.\Then ask the children to describe their objects without naming them or their parts. For example, a pencil is a long, thin, round object that is pointy at one end and soft and rubbery at the other.

Wrap-up: Collect all the objects and place them in the center of the circle, adding a few additional objects. Have the children remove their blindfolds and find their objects individually or as a group. After everyone has claimed an object, have each describe unique clues that helped with the identification.

Discuss the objects and use this discussion as a lead-in to a follow-up activity.

OPTIONS AND FURTHER EXPLORATIONS:

1. Have the children find an object similar to their own outdoors or have them draw their objects.

2. Once all objects have been claimed, group them according to shape, size, color, etc. Discuss patterns found in nature, or follow up with research. For example, skulls grouped by carnivore, herbivore and omnivore can lead to research on tooth adaptations.

3. This lesson can also be used simply to practice nonvisual sensory skills, or to introduce a broad concept such as food webs.