Title: SEE, TOUCH AND TELL
Author: Ruth Emery, Eulalie R. Rivera
Grade Level: K-2
6. Resources 1. Science
2. Language Arts
Children shall observe and feel a specific object, use a word to describe it, and remember other
descriptive words that have been used.
This activity provides an opportunity for children to gain familiarity with a variety of natural
objects and an opportunity to develop language skills in the use of descriptive words.
Any number of natural objects: seashells, seed pods, small pebbles or rocks, leaves, pieces of
bark, feathers, driftwood, or sticks.
A natural object such as a seedpod, flower, or shell is passed from one child to another in a
circle, with each child adding a word or phrase to describe it. A conch shell, for instance,
might be called "big" by the first child, "big and bumpy" by the second child, "big, bumpy and
pink" by the third child, and "big, bumpy, pink and curving' by the fourth child, and so on.
This causes the child to observe and feel the object carefully, and to remember other descriptive
words that the other children have used.
Discuss that natural things come in many shapes and patterns, some ugly, some beautiful, but
all very interesting.
Adapted from Early Childhood Art: by Barbara Herberholz, William C. Brown Publishers,
Dubuque, Iowa, 1974.