The arts and nature: I always think of them as cousins in terms of how fundamental they are to our souls. And then, sometimes, they are one in the same. Like some nature painting. Or, how nature makes its own music.
I thought it would be interesting for us to “see” nature in a new way, by listening to it through a Music of Nature Scavenger Hunt. This activity is a nice reason to get outdoors, plus a good chance to engage with some fun vocabulary. Grab a pen and the printable (bottom of the post), and take your listening ears out on a nature walk.
I’d suggest this activity for about 4+. My 7 year old loved it.
For this nature walk, you can use any place from your own backyard to the park, to the beach, to a big, sprawling, country lot. I’d suggest that a place where you can find quite a few sticks of various sizes will work best for some of the prompts, but the idea is to get inventive, so work with what you find!
We went walking in our local park, which has plenty of trees, rocks, and open space.
Miss 7 mostly led the way, working down the list of each sound. I especially loved the conversations where we talked through what a sound meant. Was two twigs hit together a “bang”? No, that was more like a “tap.” “Bang” is much louder than that. How do we make that happen?
The clear favorite on the list – “Squelch.” My little explorer knew just what to do – shoes off, and straight for the mud! Maybe bring a towel, just in case you have a happy Squelcher, too!
We hope you enjoy finding out what wonderful music nature can make with your artsplorers! Please tag us #WeAreArtsplorers if you post about it.
Save it for later? PIN it!
