The Senses and Outdoor Teaching Areas
Following on from our previous blog, we now offer some more ideas that highlight the many different sensory experiences your outdoor spaces can offer.
When creating sensory outdoor teaching spaces, it is worth remembering the many sensations we experience that are not formally categorised as one of the seven senses, for example, gravity, temperature, change, space, and enclosure.
Orientation, gravity, and balance
Aspects of path design, such as width, change in direction, branching, slopes, and ability to see a destination or end point all influence speed of travel and a sense of mystery and invitation. Therefore, paths in sensory gardens and trails can be seen to have much more potential than simply providing direct access. Orientation skills may also be developed by providing things for people to stand on or climb up (logs, trees, platforms, bridges, stages) that test or develop balance and which act as markers in the landscape. In education programmes, the objective may be to introduce such basic concepts as up, down, high and low (this may be done by incorporating objects that can be repositioned such as hanging baskets and mobiles).
Cause and effect
For students working at cause-and-effect level, it is vital that this skill is generalised in as many areas of their lives as possible to cement the connection between what they do and what their action instigates. A range of practical landscape features can be used to get people involved. For example, interactive sculptures on which learners can pull levers, press switches, or activate touch-sensitive pads to produce different effects. Other possibilities include gear wheels, pulleys, balances, and water that moves through a series of pools or channels. Such features can also be valuable in education programmes for demonstrating cause and effect.
Moods
Some of your spaces should be designed to be quiet and relaxing. Here the emphasis is on using a combination of sensory qualities to create a comfortable and calming environment. Some schools and residential units have reported that such environments are useful for emotional wellbeing. There is also potential for exploring other types of space, for example using shade and light, enclosure, and sounds to explore other moods.
Sensory journeys
No matter how small the sensory pathway it is important to understand how sensory pathways help the learners understand their journey. Where am I going, have I arrived and what do I do now? Therefore, there is a defined end point in the suggested design of a seating area, thus a clear reason for the student to travel towards it … and later, away from it.
The chosen pathway should offer a range of sensory clues. Here are a few ideas for you, many of which could be created by students.
Paths suitable for wheelchairs and walkers are designed to make the tactile experience through the chair feel fantastic. Portable panels could be used. These could be made or purchased from a sensory or garden company. Use varied trays with different tactile experiences from small rocks, pebble dash to sand. You need to consider the sound the materials make, and the feeling either with feet or a wheelchair. Learners need to experience different materials under their feet or wheelchair, because they are used to solid surfaces under their feet, not soft mud in a field, the squashy feel of sand, or the crunch of pebbles on the beach.
Consider the following:
- What material will stand up to the wheels, feet, harsh environments, and weather?
- Do you need small ramps on either end for wheelchairs?
- Do you need a handrail? (We would always suggest yes to this)
Tactile Murals
These allow a sensory journey by following along a wall with your hand. It may be that a particular point causes a pause for greater exploration whilst other areas are seemingly skimmed over. Close observation here can tell us a great deal about preferences and avoidance strategies.
Mike Ayres makes by far the best tactile panels, here are his thoughts on tactile work.
“Tactile experience is a fundamental part of your overall sensory experience of the environment you are in at that moment. In the early days of the creation of tactile panels, people questioned their need and stated that you could just as well go outside and touch natural materials and experience what’s around you. Yes, you can and should do all of these things, but they are not always available to everyone and do not often appear in abundance in built environments”.
Tactile experiences are particularly appropriate for learners because they can act as very strong indicators and offer stimulation for communication and interactivity.
Also, why do we take holiday pictures and buy paintings and souvenirs? Because we want to remind ourselves of experiences and evoke emotions! This is exactly what tactile experiences can do. They enhance the understanding of the environment around you. As you develop, you build up an internal language for textures, as you do with all your senses. You learn about safe and dangerous tactile experiences through encountering the materials around you. Heat can be a safe or dangerous experience, and how do you learn about that, how do you understand what is pleasant and what will hurt? By exploring and learning about the properties of materials within safe parameters.
This is partly what the creation of Tactile Murals is about, but they are also about giving a feeling to a building, allowing people to engage with their environment (feel the wall), and creating an art form that adds to the aesthetic value of the spaces you live, work, and learn in.
Earlier we mentioned the language of texture. Here are some words and comparisons that externalise that language. Rough and smooth, soft and hard, warm and cold, angular and curved, embossed and impressed, rigid and flexible, fine and coarse, linear and meandering, regular and random, absorbent and reflective. You get the idea!
These are all considerations when creating a mural, as well as overall shape, size, colour, safety of materials used, flow of movement, as you explore it and the space it fits into.
A mural makes a very strong statement when you walk into a space. If it is something that you can physically engage with, it will give you a much stronger personal link with it and children almost always engage with and remember the smaller things that they can physically experience.
Murals can also be very good visual and textural ‘wayfinders’ and signposts around buildings.
The next blog in this series will focus on the use of sound in your outdoor space.
