Tag Archives: art

Listen In Nature

Many children in this country have lost all understanding that they are part of nature and are connected to nature.We live so fearfully that children will be nabbed or will get hurt that we keep them inside and away from danger. But ultimately we are harming them far worse by robbing them of the experiences that can only be found outside in nature.

“To become stronger adults, kids need to be outside and allow their bodies to do what they’ve been designed for from the beginning. – Kacie Flegal, a chiropractor in Ashland, Ore., who specializes in pediatrics.

In college I studied Ornithology because I was obsessed with the film maker Peter Greenaway. His film A Walk Through H: The Reincarnation of an Ornithologist change my view of birds, film making and visual experiences.

Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 10.33.41 AM

Some of Greenaway’s other best-known films include:  The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), A Zed & Two Noughts (1985), The Belly of an Architect (1987), Drowning by Numbers (1988), and his most successful (and controversial) film, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) also include references to Ornithology, birds and nature.

As a parent this has me thinking about sharing a love for birds with my children and if I want to get them outside to listen more I can start with the sound of various songbirds. Doing this can really can teach a child about the diversity of the natural world.

Once you spend time outside listing for birds why not get creative?  Set up an outdoor creativity studio where you can build and make things! Go grab these Free plans to build a birdhouse for your own back yard from Ana White

Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 10.44.00 AM

ADDED BONUS:

While building your bird house listen to some classic music inspired by birds.

Laboratory5 Inc. is a small business based in Tempe, Arizona

Visit our website: Laboratory5       Follow us on Twitter: @lab5     Become a fan on Facebook: Laboratory5
Contact Us at anytime – we’d love to hear from you

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a comment

Play Outside – Look up!

There are so many ways to create kids who love being and playing outside. Children benefit greatly from the sensory experiences in nature, including looking at things outside, smelling things that are organic in nature, listening to sounds in nature and touching textures while they are outside.

So how do we actively do the work to get kids off of tech and out into nature?  Start small!  Ask a child to step outside and look at shapes that they can see in the clouds, once out there have them notice the wind on their face or the feeling of sun shining down on them. Ask them to take a deep breath and smell the scents all around them, have them describe what they smell. Grow their outdoor experiences from there.

Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 9.36.47 AM

Want to turn this activity in to a creative outcome? Check out “The Cloudspotter’s Guide” from your local library and then use the attached Cloud Template: Clouds Template

And follow these instructions:

How to make a cloud mobile

 

The Clouds:

  1. Use the PDF cloud template offered on this site. Cut out five cloud shapes out of cream or white cardstock.
  2. Glue these shapes down on a larger piece of paper, leaving plenty of room around each shape.
  3. Look at each shape and think about what it looks like i.e: a rocket ship? A fried egg? Draw that shape around the cloud form and cut each bigger picture out.
  4. Use colored pencils to color in the outer forms if desired.
  5. Hole punch the top of each shape.
  6. Run a piece of string or yarn down through each of the holes so you form a continuous ladder of shapes.
  7. Tie the top piece of string or yarn off into a hanging loop.

 

ox8IwkUEi-qbx_WOaEnjiRxkdsnw8tWCdcMSoXKEmb4sPJFflUZbeahooq-SgJHqBkc0Re5d0mfVT1C6i-sqQZhM8Vh5fhLH9MabdnGbgIiye9xbLqXGSCg7F4AsdSQd_qWqCqtV-8CexH7snstf-wIZ_LlfOAutG0ueF53yLM9X3BzzGmCH_sYI-mj2BF9_LzU8MK0LeabIhSr8ubwoffG5n6er2

 

 

 

Laboratory5 Inc. is a small business based in Tempe, Arizona

Visit our website: Laboratory5       Follow us on Twitter: @lab5     Become a fan on Facebook: Laboratory5
Contact Us at anytime – we’d love to hear from you

Leave a comment

Game of Clones

I had the privilege of working with Athena Aktipis to design a science communication tool as a way to explain to the public how cancer cheats. It’s called Game of Clones and while cancer is not fun nor funny I believe sharing information on why it is so hard to cure cancer inspires others to join this fight. Or as Athena explains it in her research on cancer shows us it is no longer about fighting cancer – it’s about learning to collaborate with cancer so we can use cancer clones as cooperative team players. If cancer cheats by changing the way business is done, by acting differently in every body it takes up residence in then we have to look at what can we learn from that? Here is a video on how the public game worked, followed by pictures at the public event.

Game of Clones Explanation from Biodesign Institute at ASU on Vimeo.

CloneWars Pic

Bio Cancer Tent

unspecified-8

 

If a ten year old had fun at this event and learned about how cancer cheats, they are better equipped. So that at a family event when Great Aunt Marge raises her fists and yells out “why can’t they cure cancer already?” The ten year old can explain it’s because cancer cheat. This is how we win our future . . . .

Leave a comment