Core Routines: Expanding the Senses, Wandering
Skills Practiced: Sensory awareness, categorization, descriptive language
Ecological Indicators: All taxa—plants, animals, weather
Qualities Fostered: Curiosity, Playfulness, Presence
Directions (Shields): East (Inspire), South (Activate), Southeast (Explore)
Suggested Age Range: 4+ (easily scaled from preschoolers to teens)
Timing & Energy Level: Perfect opening activity or energizer (East/Southeast)
Set-Up & Materials:
- No materials required, though journals or bags for collecting optional
- Any accessible natural area
Description:
Participants wander or explore an area while engaging all five senses—sight, sound, smell, touch, and (when appropriate) taste. They can either collect items, write down what they discover, or report back in circle. The game builds multi-sensory connection to place and slows the pace of observation, helping even busy groups root into the landscape.
Coyote Mentoring Tips:
- Make it a scavenger hunt: “Find something soft, something with a strong smell…”
- Ask, “Which sense do you use most? Which do you forget?”
- Let them invent their own categories: “Find something wiggly, something ancient…”
Variations:
- Assign one sense per partner and compare discoveries
- Use “mystery bags” to sort findings after the walk
- Create a collective five-sense poem or mural
Debrief Prompts:
- “What sense led you to something new?”
- “Did you notice anything for the first time?”
- “What did it feel like to pay attention this way?”
Story Seeds:
- Stories of beings who learn by touching or sniffing
- Personal memories of smell or taste from childhood
- Trickster tales of seeing what others miss