exploration lab :: document the textures in your neighborhood

As I have been trying to articulate my educational philosophy through this blog and in other venues, I have come to realize one of the biggest concepts of my approach is looking. 

Simple looking together leads to 

everything big and profound.

For a texture walk you need some paper, crayons or charcoal, and a clip board. 

But the biggest things to pack are your willingness to slow down, look, be interested, wonder, ask questions, and try new things. 

We climbed up on things, crouched low, went into the road, snuck just a bit into the edge of peoples' yards and looked closer and deeper than in our usual walks. 

We encountered an owl, ants carrying a dead bug, a strange caterpillar cocooning and noted several instances in which nature was talking over man made objects. 

We became enamored with concrete inscriptions and thought about making a collection of photographs of just those. 

We problem solved difficult rubbings situations and we made collaborative rubbings. 

We came home excited by our discoveries and immediately got making and creating with our wonderful, loose minds. One kid had to start writing a story right in the alley - the inspiration hit so hard. Others went back to an elaborate LEGO castle project. 

The most surprising thing to me is that my kids are older. I did this with them when they were much younger and it was successful and fun. I was not sure what to expect on this go around. But, they loved it and so did I. Finding textures in your neighborhood (or in a public place) is the best sort of open ended discovery.

Have you done a texture hunt with your kids? What about a color hunt?