You Name it

Observation is involved in all aspects of science. Use your observation skills to make up your own names for living and non-living things.

Materials:
Paper
Pencils

Doing it:
1. Choose a large are, either outdoors or indoors.

2. Set a time limit, perhaps 10 minutes. Each person must find a certain number of objects (five to fifteen) and write down a name for them. All the objects may be living; all may be non-living; or some objects can be living while others are non-living. Make up names based on appearance, location, needs, or function. For example, a purple plant with tall, pointed leaves might look like church steeple at sunset; why not name it the Purple Steeple palnt? No real name can be used, even if people know them.

3. When the time is up, everyone shares their list of names. Visit each living or non-living thing. What really looks like the name(s) people have given it? What was given the most names?

4. Variation: Select objects in the immediate surroundings and name them, one name per folded slip of paper. Mix up the slips of paper and have each person choose a slip. Can people find the objects based on the clues in the new names?

Story behind the activity:
A name is just a name. But making up your own name for a living or non-living thing puts everything in awhole new light. Naming is fun. It also encourages people to think about the thing they're looking at and to notice details. Once people notice details, it's easy to go back to an identification guide to find a real name for a plant, for example. Names are often based on observing the characteristics that are most important. If you don't know what poison ivy looks like, it doesn't help you to know its name.