Look and wonder
Notice, Think, Wonder
Study a strange little alien, then sort your ideas into what you notice, what you think and what you wonder.
Thinking sheet · Look and wonder
Texture Detective
Make crayon rubbings of six textures, guess what each one is from and describe how it feels.
- Grades
- K–5
- Time
- about 20 minutes
- Topic
- Look and wonder
- Kids practice
- texture, describing words, observation
What kids do
“Put the paper on a bumpy surface and rub with the side of a crayon. What appears?”
- Rubbing 1
- Rubbing 2
- Rubbing 3
- It was:
- It was:
- It was:
- Rubbing 4
- Rubbing 5
- Rubbing 6
- It was:
- It was:
- It was:
- Texture words I used (bumpy, ridged, rough…):
How to run it
- Peel the paper off old crayons and rub with the long side.
- Good textures: leaves, coins, bark, sneaker soles, brick, a basket.
- Swap sheets and guess each other’s textures.
Talk about it
- Which texture was easiest to guess?
- Where do artists use texture in drawings?
- How could you draw a texture without a rubbing?
Take it further
Use the rubbings as the fur, scales or skin of a drawn creature.
Pairs well with
Free for home and classroom use. Print as many copies as you need.
More thinking sheets
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Whose Shadow Is This?
A mystery shadow. Use clues to guess who it belongs to, then draw what you think it really looks like.
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Zoom In, Zoom Out
Pick one object. Draw a tiny part of it huge, then draw the whole thing small in its place.
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Same and Different
A cartoon velociraptor and a robot T. rex. Sort what they share and what makes each one special.
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