Sensory Tours by Kids

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Originally appears in the Fall 2016 issue

by Carie Green

“Is it mozzarella?” Dexter asks.
“Is it mozzarella? Do you think that’s a mozzarella tree?” His teacher responds.
Four-year old Dexter picks up the decaying tree limb, feeling the soft stringy core inside, his voice exclaims with excitement, “Yeah! You get cheese from trees, just like paper!”

CHILDREN ARE ACTIVE AGENTS in constructing their own culture in all the environments in which they are exposed. What adults may view as a decaying tree limb on the forest floor, children transform into a cheesy creation through the exercise of their senses (e.g. sight and touch). Children’s meaning-making is significant, because these meanings influence their experiences (positive or negative), the relationships they form, and how they identify with the natural world. In the early and middle childhood years, such meaning often takes on an imaginary form. In this way, children perceive that anything is possible in the natural environment. As such, nature becomes a place
of play, discovery, and inspiration. In this article I describe a tool, which I will refer to as Sensory Tours, as a method for exploring the way in which children perceive, experience, and make meaning of their environments. The beauty of Sensory Tours is that meaning making is captured by way of children’s authentic experiences with peers and adults and animate and inanimate objects in the natural world. Sensory Tours reveal what a child sees, hears, says, and how they interact with the environment. It captures their self-talk, the songs they might sing, and the unknown life-world of a child apart from an adult. Whether collecting litter in the city, planting a garden, or exploring a new canyon, you can facilitate Sensory Tours with children of all age groups, wherever you are.