What can you hear?
You will listen silently for a minute and draw where the sounds seemed to come from. A moving or reflected sound can be difficult to place, so the map may include uncertainty.
- Nature
- Starter
- About 10 minutes
Grown-up needed: yes for selecting the location, materials and supervising each observation
What you need
- A comfortable seat in a quiet spot
- Paper
- A pencil
- A timer
- A grown-up or partner
The rule
Stay silent for the whole minute.
How to do it
- Ask a grown-up to choose a comfortable seated place.
- Agree that the partner will time one minute.
- Close your eyes only while remaining seated.
- Listen silently until the partner says the minute has ended.
- Open your eyes and mark each remembered sound around a centre point.
- Add a question mark beside any uncertain direction.
Why it works
Sound reaches your ears as pressure changes travelling through the air. Differences between the ears help your brain judge direction, while echoes and moving sources can complicate that judgement. Quiet attention can make previously ignored sounds easier to notice; it does not physically turn up your hearing. A map records where you thought each source was, not a guaranteed measured position. Comparing it with your partner’s map can show how attention and interpretation differed.
Make it harder
- Separate steady sounds from brief ones.
- Repeat with eyes open while staying silent.
- Explain a different direction estimate between two listeners.
Ask Taz
- Why can two ears help me locate a sound?
- Why can an echo make direction confusing?
- Why does silent listening reveal sounds I had ignored?
For grown-ups
Keep the child seated while their eyes are closed and use a comfortable sound level. No one should surprise them with loud noise. Treat uncertain marks as honest records instead of errors to erase. Ask at dinner: “Which sound was easiest to locate, and which might have bounced from another surface?”
Taz is an AI and can be wrong, so stay close by. Read how safety works on Taz.
Show us yours
Film your hands and what you made, not your face or name. Ask a grown-up before posting anywhere else.
Questions parents ask
What if we do not see the expected result?
Record what actually happened, including missing sightings or changes in conditions. An observation does not need to match a hoped-for example. The listed time is an estimate and some activities need repeated visits.
Should we collect something to take home?
Follow the rule for this activity and leave living things undisturbed. A sketch and a few words are usually enough to keep the observation without removing anything from its place.
Must we show the record online?
No. Keep the record at home if you prefer. Any online sharing needs grown-up permission and the privacy line above.
More to try
See all Taz Challenges, or look through the science labs. One place for every why. Ask for early access at aitaz.com
Try it in 3D: Sound waves.