Winter Sound Maps

While I love the holiday season, December always seems so hectic and rushed; it can take its toll on me. The same can be true for students this time of year, with holiday excitement can also come anxiety. This month’s SEL activity, Winter Sound Maps, is a great way to slow down, pause to connect with nature, and be present in the moment.

Each student will need paper, a clipboard or something to write on and a pencil or pen. Find a comfortable place to sit outside and spread out. Have the students mark an “X” in the center of the paper, representing the listener on the map. Ask them to close their eyes and just listen to the sounds around them. Do this for a minute or so just to get acclimated to the sounds. Instruct them to keep listening, but now start recording the sounds they hear on the piece of paper, placing them on the paper in relation to the listeners position, mapping the sounds location.

The sounds can be represented by words, symbols or drawings, but simple is best, so students can focus on what they hear. I like to do this for about five minutes. Some sounds may be heard more than once; simply keep a tally of how many times the sound is heard. After five minutes, students can share and compare the sounds they heard. You can challenge them to think about what would happen if they were sitting somewhere else, how sounds may be different at a different time of day or during a different season.

This is a great activity to calm and focus students before an outdoor lesson as well, and the great thing is, it can be repeated multiple times throughout the year with a totally different experience each time.