Wonder Walk Top Ten Basics
We can all ‘go for a walk’, but try and encourage a spot of ‘wondering’ while you do (and encourage the phones to be put away while you’re doing it - if possible!)
It’s sometimes hard to even get your teenager out of the house, let alone going for a ‘Wonder Walk’ so might be best not to call it that!
Instead perhaps have a destination which they’d like (I was going to say enthusiastic about, but that might be pushing it! 🫢). Give them an incentive to come out with you and walk.
No matter where you are though, there is always an opportunity to ‘wonder’, and to look at things differently - even if its a route you’ve taken many times, or do every day, you’ll notice something new, I promise you.
So here’s some basics to wonder-walking, and you might have to take the lead and point some of these out initially, to get them in the right frame of mind to do the same.
Look up, look down, look all around. We often don’t do this! So make a point of looking in all directions (when you’re safe to do so of course!).
Look at the different colours of things - in nature how many different greens can you see, or is something you expect to be green really more yellow? Etc.
How does the light change what you see? If its a sunny day then this is great - what’s in shadow vs what’s in sunlight - how does it change our perception. If it’s nighttime look at artificial lights and how they glow through gaps in buildings, or gaps in trees etc.
What can you smell?
What can you hear? What’s the nearest sound? What’s the sound furthest away? See if you have the same answers - our hearing is not always as good as theirs!
Look for ‘verticals’ crossing with ‘horizontals’ crossing ‘diagonals etc. Angles are created when they do - can you spot them?
Look for a sign spelt wrong! (Your / You’re is a common one. Or an apostrophe in the wrong place.)
Look at other people as they interact. What do you think they’re talking about?
Look for contrasts. This could be colours or textures, but also emotions - is there a child crying next to someone laughing?
And finally, look for something that makes the laugh! This might be a challenge, depending on what mood they’re in, but always worth giving it a whirl!