ACTIVITY

5 Senses for Fall Awareness

Use the 5 senses technique to emotionally ground participants and promote seasonal awareness

Instructions

  1. Instruct participants to find or bring a leaf with them to the session.
  2. Instruct participants to describe their leaf with their 5 senses using the below prompts:
  • Observe the leaf: What does your leaf look like?
  • Touch the leaf: What does your leaf feel like?
  • Smell the leaf: What does your leaf smell like?
  • Make sounds with the leaf: What does your leaf sound like?
  • Taste: What leaves do you eat? What do they taste like?

Materials & Tools Required:

  1. Leaves

Notes/Suggestions:

  1. If you are working with clients who may have sensory impairments, consider in advance how you might adapt the prompts to ensure that everyone can participate.
  2. Mindfulness exercises generally work best when the facilitator speaks in a slow, calm tone and pauses to allow participants time to think and reflect.
  3. When selecting plant materials (such as the leaves for this activity), always ensure that you have properly identified and know any potential risks of interacting with that plant (ie: some leaves may cause skin irritation or injury to the skin).