Wake up your senses and see the world around you in a whole new way by finding a tree through touch and smell. We came across this great activity in Sharing Nature with Children and had to try it our for ourselves! What's needed: a good friend, a few scraps of fabric, a back yard, park, or forest. The Game: With a friend go out to a park or any place with a grouping of trees. Blindfold one person and lead them up to a tree. Ask the blindfolded person to feel the tree with their hands, or even their cheek. Ask specific questions: How does it feel? Is is rough? Is it smooth? Is anything growing on it? Is it damp or dry? Can they wrap their arms around it? Now ask them to smell the tree. How does it smell? Sweet? Sour? Like leaves or grass? Like the dirt? Like wood? Once your partner is finished exploring, lead them back to where you started, but by an indirect route, and take the blindfold off. Ask the person who was blindfolded to see if they can find the tree they were lead to. Now let your partner try!
Activities like this heighten our senses and can create wonderful lifelong relationships with nature. So next time you go outside, don't just hug a tree, smell it too!
**** For the star watchers out there, look out for a green "two-tailed" comet due to pass closest to the earth today Feb. 24th!****