The Craftiest Workshop

My brothers, Russell and Greg, often post pictures of photographs they take when they go on walks. Something about Russell’s last group of photos reminded me of an assignment I did for my Early Childhood Education course: Math and Science in Early Learning.

It was 2015 and I was in my 3rd semester. The assignment we were given was to go for a walk in the forest and observe things around us. We were given a number of adjectives that we had to find objects for. Although we were allowed to take photographs of the objects in the moment, we had to draw them for the assignment submission. From the objects we found, we had to create three activities that taught math concepts such as numeration, ordering, shape, size, patterning, and spatial relationships.

I am NOT an artist by any means but I really enjoyed the assignment. I would challenge you to try this out and photograph and/or draw what you find. If you look carefully you can find many interesting things.

Background for my walk:

I decided to take my field trip walk down a path in Russell, ON which used to be a rail line.  The township has paved the path from Russell to the neighbouring town of Embrun.  This path was about 50 steps from my front door when I used to live in Russell.  We had moved back to the area and my son, Thomas, was playing soccer all day in Russell so it was a perfect chance to take my walk there.  About five minutes down the path there is a conservation area with a gravel path through the forest.  This is where I found most of the objects that I sketched.

It was a wonderful walk; a chance to get away from my computer for a bit.  The wind was quite strong that day but in the depth of the trees only a slight breeze was felt.  There had been no rain in some time so the forest floor was dry and I was able to veer off the path to get close to the things I saw without getting muddy.  I was able to see some squirrels, a chipmunk, two ducks and a butterfly.  I could hear the water trickling through the creek and the moaning sound the trees make when they rub together in the wind.  I could smell the freshness in the air in the cool breeze. 

Here are some of the wonderful examples of nature that I saw during my walk.  I took photographs (long ago deleted) and thought about what I was feeling as I discovered these wonders of nature.  I later sketched the objects from my photographs and wrote detailed notes from my photographs and memories of each moment.   I also included a few things that I saw in my yard that I really thought should be included in the assignment. 

Furry

Almost at the end of my walk, I glanced right and I saw these two white eyes on the side of a tree. A chipmunk was upside down hanging very straight against the tree trunk. He was trying to camouflage himself against the bark but his coat was much more reddish brown than the tree. He did not make a sound and kept his eyes staring straight at me.

Big

My last find on my walk was this leaf. It was 1.5 times the size of my open hand. The colour was so bright that it was almost fluorescent. The lines of the leaves were so easy to see. The leaf itself was very smooth and almost cool to the touch.

Small

A butterfly flew past me and I was lucky enough to have it land on a fallen tree branch. It closed and opened its wings in a response to the sunlight hitting it. The sun was intermittent through the canopy of leaves moving in the wind.

Straight

I walked past a small creek and saw this fallen tree lying across it. The tree had no branches, not even a knot. I ran my hand across it and it was almost as smooth as it would have been had it been sanded. I could hear the water trickling and saw a pair of mallard ducks wading in the water around the bend.

Round

Off the path, I saw this odd circular growth on the side of a tree. Once I got up close, I was convinced that it must be a giant mushroom. When I touched it, I realized that it was actually wood; part of the tree. The tree had pushed out the round section of bark (a burl) about 1.5 ft in diameter and it was sticking out about 1 ft from the trunk. I thought it looked like a turtle shell as the bark was cracked in a pattern resembling that of the turtle’s shell.

Tall

All along the path where I walked, there were these bright ferns, some of them standing two ft tall. The petals were smooth but each had pointy fringed sides to it. I noticed how symmetrical it looked and the whole branch formed a diamond shape.

Smooth

From quite a ways away, I noticed these cream coloured growths on the side of a tree. So many things in a forest are brown or green that other colours pop out at you. These mushrooms were growing on the north side of a tree. They were very smooth to the touch and quite cold. The orange section on top of one was some sort of sticky substance, perhaps sap from a tree.

Short

I struggled with this adjective. I chose a tree stump to represent short. It was a large stump, probably 60 cm across and it had been cut down as it was too close to the path. Now it stands less than 30 cm tall. There was a faint green hue to it from moss growth which also made it feel a bit slimy. I found it interesting that in the core of the tree you could see the rings of the tree showing how it had grown.

Colourful

This Blue Jay often frequents our yard. I caught a photo of it sitting on our rock out front. He has a nest in the line of trees which borders the field behind our house. I can often hear him singing or screeching at other birds. He makes both melodic and dissonant sounds. I love to see the blue colour fly by and find it interesting how these are white and black patterns on its wings.

Rough

I saw this large birch tree with pretty much all of its bark coming away from the tree. I was reminded of days spent as a child collecting fallen birch bark and writing secret messages on it. The bark feels rough on the outside but the insdie feels quite smooth. It makes a nice example of the contrast.

New

This bird’s nest was new to our yard this spring. I had seen the adult Robins at the nest which sat in the crook of our down spoiut. Unfortunately, we found the nest on the ground, two dead baby birds, just the other day. The nest up close shows how much work goes into building a nest and what materials the bird used. It had grass and twigs but also mud resembling how early settlers built sod houses. Due to the mud, the nest is quite heavy.

Old

Another found treasure in our yard just yesterday was this wasp nest. It was an old hive that had been on a high peak of our house last summer but fell with the strong wind. I love how each comb section is almost a perfect hexagon and the individual combs are exactly the same size (my sketch does not show this well). The nest is very fragile and light, almost like tissue paper.

Warm

The sun was warm on my face even though the wind was bitterly cold when I did my walk. On the path, the sun peeked through only in spots like a spotlight highlighting a tree or a flower. I managed to get a sun burn by the end of the day proving that the sun is quite powerful even when the air feels cold.

Cold

The water in the creek and stones in the creek where I walked were quite cold. The canopy of trees protects the creek from much sunlight coming through. The water was not really blue but had more green algae and murky black sections. The small amounts of blue I saw were just the sun reflecting on the water I think. I love hearing the sound of the water moving and find it very peaceful.

Above you

There were some big fluffy white/grey clouds in the sky. The strong wind was changing their shapes quickly and new clouds came rolling in. Memories of lying on my back as a child and looking for pictures in the cloud shapes came to my mind.

On the ground

All through the treed area, there were fallen leaves from last fall. These were dry, brown and sounded crunchy when walked on. When I lifted them, a musty earthy smell hit my nose. A few new green and light brown leaves lay on top making a nice visible collage.

Here is the list if you would like to try it:

Old / New

Above you / On the ground

Warm / Cold

Short / Tall

Smooth / Rough

Big / Small

Round / Straight

Furry / Colourful

The next time you are out for a walk in the forest or along a trail keep in mind these adjectives and snap some pics.
I would be interested to see what you find.