A curiosity walk is a short walk where the only job is to notice things. Your child brings a notebook, writes or draws five things they observe and the questions those things spark, and then chooses one question to investigate. It's the hands-on version of Chapter 1, The Spark of Curiosity, where Curious Bunny looks at the world through a magnifying glass.
How to do one
- Pick a place. The yard, the block, a park, or even the kitchen. It doesn't need to be anywhere special.
- Bring a notebook and pencil. A magnifying glass is a bonus.
- Slow down and look. Try prompts like: What is different from yesterday? What sounds do you hear? What is the smallest thing you can find?
- Record five things. Your child writes or draws each one. Younger children can dictate while you write.
- Turn each one into a question. "Ants in a line" becomes "Why do ants walk in lines?"
- Choose one question to carry into the rest of the book.
Fifteen to twenty minutes is plenty.
What to say when you don't know the answer
You don't need to know. It's better if sometimes you say, "I don't know. How could we find out?" That sentence leads straight into Chapter 2, where the Squad looks up what is already known.
Pages to color before or after
- Page 2: Curious Bunny studies a ladybug through a magnifying glass.
- Page 8: a garden scene with five hidden objects to find, which is good practice for looking closely.
- Page 10: an empty thought bubble where your child draws the thing they most want to learn about. It's a natural place to record the question they chose on the walk.
Making it a habit
A curiosity walk works on any day, not only research weeks. Keep a running "I wonder..." list in a notebook, like the Question Log in Detail Dog's Data Journal, and date each entry. Over a few months, your child will see how many questions they've collected. I describe the walk and other daily habits in Raising a Curious Kid, and it's also Monday's activity in the one-week homeschool plan.