The Art of Blending In
October 7, 2010
Camouflage is a way that animals blend in to their surroundings. As instructors, we can help our students understand how camouflage works and how it can help us blend in. The task is how do we make it fun and exciting in the classroom or a field day activity? I think one of the answers is to play a great game of “Hide and Seek”.
To conduct this activity you will need the following items:
An assortment of camouflage clothing to include T-shirts, ball caps, gloves, small branches with green or brown leaves, camouflage face paint and strips of camouflage material. All the materials can be found in the area, donated from a local outdoor store or the students can bring their own, if notified before the class date.
Use your own judgment on an area that has some trees, bushes, tall grasses or other hiding places. Remember safety is always first for the students and instructors.
To conduct the activity:
- Have the students wear their regular clothes or select the camouflage they would like to put over their regular clothes. Help your students put a little camouflage paint on their cheeks if they want to.
- Ask a student to volunteer to help the instructors find the other students. Take a head count of all the students participating in the activity.
- Instruct the students to hide behind bushes, tall grass and trees, blending into their surroundings.
- Have the volunteer student count to 30 as the others hide in the area set up for the exercise.
- The instructors will help the volunteer student find all of the students that are hiding.
What a blast! After everyone is found, you can discuss how they selected their hiding places and what the volunteer student observed that revealed their positions.
Here are some pictures I had someone take of me while hiding. Can you find me? Post your findings and I will let you know.
Please feel free to share your ideas for the hands on activities that you are using to teach this topic. When we learn from each other, our students benefit.
Roy Hutchinson is a fellow instructor and an expert in camouflage and tracking. If you would like challenges check out his web site for more pictures and see if you can find the individuals hiding. Follow the link to his website.