Listening to Nature Activities

Perhaps it is the time of year – the birds are singing but the trees are still bare so the sounds of nature stand out particularly sharp. Visual details capture my attention. When I take tests about learning styles or the various intelligences I inevitably “fail” as someone who takes in information through the auditory sense.

I’ve tried to learn to bird by ear, but it is an ability I lack. I’ve learned some of the mnemonics – for example, white throated sparrows sing a song that sounds like “Sam Peabody, Sam Peabody,” but it took me years before one day I heard a familiar, but unidentified, song and it suddenly occurred to me that I was listening to something very much like a bird singing “Sam Peabody, Sam Peabody.”

The following activities don’t require that you or the children you are with identify the sources of the sound; however, they do make you more aware of the sounds around you. You can do these activities anywhere outdoors – backyard, schoolyard, forest, field; preferably somewhere manmade sounds don’t entirely overwhelm the sounds of nature.

Sound Map
Each person starts with an index card and a marking pen (because markers don’t require as much pressure as a pencil or pen to leave a mark). Draw an “X” in the middle of the card. This represents the individual. As each person detects a sound, he or she draws a dot indicating where they think that sound is in relationship to where he or she is sitting.

For the individual who thinks they know what is making the sound, they could instead draw a simple picture of the plane, bird, wind in the trees, etc. that creating the sound. Natural and manmade sounds should all be noticed and recorded. Do this activity for five-to-ten minutes.

Sound Pictures
For this activity, you’ll interpret sound into an image. The image consists of geometric shapes, no need to draw a bird if you think you hear a bird or a plane if you hear an airplane. In fact, you’re better off if you don’t name the things which are making the noises you are drawing.
So, the chatter of a bird becomes, “- - - - - - - - - - - - - - .” The wind, at that moment, may sound like, “~~~~~~~~~~~;” the rain on the leaves, “``````````.”

As for me, when I take my morning walk, I hear a bird’s song and look for the source, “Oh, a robin.” Moments later I hear another bird and scan the trees, “Oh, a robin.” Ten minutes later, more birdsong and, yep, another robin.