Introduction
Children are not always good at observing the world around them, because they have not been taught how to observe. In their structured, suburban world, children do not often have a chance to go "play" in nature, and find frogs, worms, stones and insects. Also, they rarely see adults take time to enjoy nature. Consequently, children need to be taught to see and observe nature. The activity of drawing is unique in its ability to enhance the powers of observation.

Question

1. Can drawing enhance a student's power of observation?

Materials
     Pencil
     Sketching pad or paper

Procedures
Students will be taught and practice three techniques of sketching: contour drawing, gesture drawing and memory drawing. Remember, the goal is to increase power of observation, not to produce professional drawings. The teacher may wish to demonstrate each of these techniques for the students.

1. Contour Drawing:

1. After observing an object from nature for a few minutes, select one small part of an animal, a plant, a scene, etc.
2. Concentrate on this small part for a minute or so.
3. Now put your pencil on your paper and without looking at your paper and without lifting your pencil, trace the object in great detail. Do this for two minutes.

• Gesture Drawing: Here you are trying to capture the essence of the object.

1. Using the same object, now sketch it in 5 seconds. (Hints: hold the pencil about in the middle and hold it loosely)
2. Using the same object, now sketch it in 15 seconds.
3. Now sketch it a third time, for 30 seconds (you may be impressed by the quality of the drawing and remember, it was done in 30 seconds!)

• Memory Drawing:

1. Now move away from your object and take 3 minutes to draw it from memory. Try to concentrate on only one or two things (texture, color, form, space, etc.).
2. Hopefully, now you realize that you can sketch objects in nature, the key is observing.
3. If time permits, try to observe and sketch something of their own.