In class we talk about textures and patterns, using examples with our touch senses. With our hands we touched our hair, touched our face, the floor, shoes and clothes. Once a texture gets past our fingertips our sense of touch changes into our visual sense, into what we can see. Based on what we know from physical touch we use our memory and imagination to remember what something feels just by seeing it.

Kids held up their hands and we visually traveled around the room and imagined we were feeling the different textures and patterns around us. A surprise was the smooth window that "felt" cold.

I drew on the white board and kids copied what I drew onto their own paper. Seeing what the kids could draw helped me to understand where they were in their visual and hand-eye development. Kindergarten textures were extremely simple, straight lines, different directions. Older kids were able to draw more complicated patterns.

The following the leader exercise continues to be an excellent teaching tool. I draw something and the kids quickly repeat it. As they concentrate and pay attention, they acquire visual information gathering skills and repeat the information on their own work.

Earlier, I gave them handouts filled with many patterns and textures. Kids were to look for something that they liked and then put the xerox down and quickly copy it onto their other paper. This process exercised their memory skills since they couldn't directly see the imagery on the xerox. They then created several textures and patterns on their own.