Life As The Wind
Spring weather can be fickle, and with sudden temperature shifts come changes in the wind. Find a spot you can sit comfortably for at least 5 minutes. Make sure you can see the natural world: sitting outside, or even inside by a window! Bring anything with you that feels good: a journal, a favorite stone, or a plant. Once you’re settled in, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
As you open your eyes, look around and see what is being moved by the wind. Are the objects that are moving heavy or light? Are they moving constantly or just every so often? Can you feel the wind moving around you? Imagine you are the breeze, think about your life. What might you see as you blow through the forest? What do you feel as you pass by people, plants, animals, rivers, or lakes. Where are you, what smells do you pick up? Do you push or pull things to make them move? What kinds of things in the forest do you affect?
Remember you can draw, write, build, or read about your interactions in nature! What do you think wind looks like on paper? Try drawing it!
Happy observing!
Here are a few variations for different ages:
4-6 year olds love to experiment through play! Collect different leaves/flower petals and explore how they move in the wind. Try to stack them on top of each other and balance them in different places in your yard. Bushes, tree limbs, and patio railings are a few places to try stacking your leaves, but the possibilities are limitless!
6-8 year olds can try building a small structure to shelter things that may blow away from the wind. A bug may thank you for a small house to rest in the spring winds.
9-11 year olds can try their hand at drawing an object that moves in the wind. Some favorites from campers have been flowers, leaves, and trees. Try drawing them with and without the wind! Check out our Forces in Motion activity for an example!
12-14 year olds can take it a step farther by building an anemometer to gauge the wind speed. If you don’t have materials for building an anemometer, you can also estimate the wind speed using just your observations! In our school year programming, we help our student scientists estimate the wind speed using The Beaufort Scale. Compare your observations to the chart and see what you find!
