Touching for Textures

Nature is full of a variety of textures – rought, bumpy, smooth, prickly, and slippery. Try these simple ideas to explore the sense of touch outdoors.

Texture Rubbings

Explore textures in your schoolyard or a local nature area. Help your students make rubbings of the textures they find. Experiment with various paper types and writing utensils to compare which works best. Have the children share out their experiences and show their texture rubbings.

Texture Creations

Add sawdust, crumbled leavers, coffee grounds, nutmeg or cinnamon to tempera paint. Make a masterpiece!

Mystery Box

Make mystery boxes by cutting two circles in the long side of each box so that a child could put both hands inside. Place one natural tree item inside each box (e.g., bark, cones, evergreen needles, leaves, nuts, seeds, fruits, paper, rocks). Each child reaches inside the box to feel an object and then describes how it feels to the class. Invite the children to remove the lid and look at the object.

 

Texture Board

Find several materials of different textures. Cut small squares of each type of material. Glue the materials to a poster board or large piece of cardboard. Explore the different textures. Talk with the kids about each texture. Examples of materials include: fake fur (soft, furry), vinyl (smooth), sandpaper (rough) and wood (hard).
 

Musical Texture Squares

Materials

12x12 squares of different textures (e.g., bubble wrap, carpet, cardboard, sand paper)

In a large area, tape one texture square to the floor for each child. Explain how the different squares feel. Play music while the children move from square to square. Instruct them to stop on a square when the music stops. Teach children a simple call and response. For example, you can ask, “Who is standing on a bumpy square?” and the children standing on a bumpy square can answer, “I am standing on a bumpy square!”

Textured Trail Mix

Mix together different textured fruits, nuts, or dry snack foods in a large bowl. Let each child scoop out an appropriate measure of the mixture to eat. While they are eating, ask the children how the different foods feel on their tongues (e.g., crunchy, smooth, mushy, or rough).