Activity - Recording Nature Sounds
Hope everyone had a great weekend! I posted this website on our Facebook page last week, but wanted to devote a little extra time to it here in the blog!
Sounds of the Forest is an amazing map with 1 minute snippets of nature sounds from around the world:
Talk about relaxing - I could listen to this all day...and am determined to find a way to get these sounds playing at Wild and Free! It made me think of a great activity that you can do at home with the kiddos to help encourage everyone along on a hike or other outdoor adventure.
I have a love / hate relationship with my smartphone (let's save that for another day), but one way to put it to good use on your next hike is for recording nature.
Our phones have a voice memo app that typically comes standard (along with the compass and calculator). When you are out on a hike, encourage your kids to pay attention to the sounds that they hear in nature. If they hear a calming river, the cry of an interesting bird, or even thunder and lightning...get to a safe place, but maybe record a few seconds of sound before you move on! Talk about how sounds change depending on where you are in the forest, and maybe come back at different times of the day to observe changes in sounds.
You can combine this with the "sit spot" activity that I've blogged about previously. If your child has a "sit spot" where they can quietly observe nature, introduce a recording device so that they can see how sounds evolve in their special space.
One of the best parts about being in the forest is being away from the noise. Getting far enough out to be away from cars, people talking, loud music, and construction equipment is so refreshing. When you are used to a lot of noise, the idea of silence can be a bit intimidating. The thing with nature, though, is that it is far from quiet. The breeze moving through the trees, animals rustling in the underbrush, a stream flowing down a hillside, crickets chirping in the forest...all these noises provide a peaceful backdrop that your little one would LOVE to record and replay at home.
You can take this even further with journaling or drawing pictures to describe the sounds, the time of day, and the season. We could all use a bit more quiet time and observation in our lives. You are doing your kids a favor to help them learn to slow down and pay attention to the world around them!
Stay Wild and Free!
Michelle