Posted on 02/21/2023
Despite how crucial seeing is, observational skills go well beyond the use of just our eyes. By encouraging strong observational abilities, children can learn to characterize tastes and textures, identify visual and auditory patterns, and name specific aromas or odors. Being thoroughly immersed in an experience that engages all five of our basic senses - sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell - is just one of the numerous advantages of being in a natural setting. Going on a nature walk with the intention of observing input that engages each sense can be a good place to start. (You might wish to keep note of your discoveries using resources such as these.) Nature isn't the only method we can use to accomplish that, of course. Perhaps the most important sense out of all the others is hearing, which involves listening to sounds.
Taking In Sounds
All science-loving students, and students of any discipline for that matter, absolutely need to learn how to listen intently. One technique to train a child's ear is through exposing them to a variety of noises, during which they can't see or otherwise distinguish the sources for each sound. You force them to listen more intently by removing their capacity to visually notice things. Always begin simple. For the younger group, this can entail playing a sound memory game while stuffing plastic Easter eggs with coordinating materials (think: coins, screws, dry beans, jingle bells, etc.).
Using Music
We've already mentioned that exposure to the arts is one approach to developing multisensory observation skills. From a hearing observation perspective, this will entail listening to music for aural observations. Children in preschool and elementary school can be exposed to pictures and sounds of corresponding musical instruments.
After they are familiar with the sounds, you may ask them to identify the card or name the instrument when they hear it both on its own and in a song. (You may employ a similar technique for nature studies, such teaching children to recognize different birds by their songs.)
They can eventually learn to hear other elements of music, such as tempo and dynamics, when they're ready. You might even be astonished by how soon young toddlers who are developing their capacity for paying attention can identify musical motifs like those found throughout Vivaldi's "Spring" as melodic patterns. Although it is not required, a worksheet like this one could aid in keeping track of the topics.
Taking In Words
Reading aloud to your kids can foster relationships and give them emotional stability, among other advantages. Don't let your school-aged children trick you into thinking they've outgrown this timely activity! Everyone enjoys a good story, especially when they can share it with someone they care about. It is truly a lost talent to simply relax and listen to a good story in our screen and noise-filled environment. In actuality, it's becoming increasingly difficult for us to even maintain eye contact when speaking to one another, because of our obsession with screens. Once more, you don't need to go out of your way; simply read a little, and then ask them to describe something that occurred in the passage you read.
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