On Monday, thanks to Sunset's Spring Break Camp, I got to do a few of my favourite things all at once: walk around smelling and touching plants, hang out with kids, and make never before seen maps of sounds, smells and sights.
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Faces in a flowering bush - despite the rain!
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I led four walks for campers, each starting off with a quick refresher of what the senses are and how we would try to explore the world just outside the Centre's doors. Despite the rain, each group gamely put fingers and noses to plants, rubbed gravel with the feet, and scouted bird nests in leafless trees.
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| Fuzzy leaves |
Once inside, rainboots off and coats dangled over lobby chairs, everyone created their own sense map to mark out the sounds, sights, smells, and feelings we explored together. There were no rules for the map making, and each camper took their own approach to documenting and turning their embodied experience into a 2-D drawing. My only regret is not having a video camera to record the audio of each child explaining their map. Next time....!
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Map making!
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| Note the amazing key at the bottom left of this map! |
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| Explanation of an experience |
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| The path we walked and the sights we felt |
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An artist/explorer at work
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Bellies down, hands and minds busy with making.
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This map included a found (leaf) object!
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| An energetic map and joyful explainer |
