Coin Exercise: Get an assortment of different denomination coins and put them all in a
container or bag. With your eyes closed, remove the coins one by one and identify their denomination by their feel only. Then go through each of the coins and determine which side is heads or tails. To make it more challenging gather a mix of dimes and pennies only, or quarters and dollar coins only and try this exercise.
I took out all the change in my wallet (which was quite a bit) and without looking at the selection, put them into a side pocket of my purse. I reached in and pulled them out one by one guessing what they were and which side was which- and I discovered that I am very good a this game! I didn’t get one wrong!
Coin through paper: Place a coin under a magazine. Using careful palpation try to find the coin by only touching the upper surface of the magazine.
I couldn’t find a magazine, so I used a notebook, but the quarter was very easy to find through this.
To make it more difficult, add layers. Can you find the coin under a phone book?
I also could not find a phone book, so I used various stacks of papers- and when I got to this stack, with different size papers all layered on each other I couldn’t find it anymore.
As a variation, use different parts of your hand to do the palpation (besides just using your fingertips).
With my fingertips palpation is definitely easiest. With the palm of my hand it was hard to get my hand flat on the surfaces I was using to feel anything without the papers all moving around.
Hair through paper: Place one strand of hair under a page in the phone book.
You would think you were asking me to do this assignment with 100 dollar bills! I can’t find anything you want me to use- so I took out a piece of magazine page- No I cannot find a whole magazine, yes I can find numerous pages.
Palpate the surface of the paper and find the hair. Add one more page and repeat. How long does it take you? How many pages can you add and still find your target? As a variation, use different parts of your hand to do the palpation.
It took 6 magazine pages for me to lose track of my hair. With the hair, my palm was helpful for finding where I thought it was and then my fingertips were good for fine tuning exactly where the strand was running.
Object recognition: Collect an assortment of household items and place them into a bag or box. With your eyes closed remove one item at a time and try to identify what it is. How would you describe the feel of the object? Hint: if you can recruit a volunteer to gather the objects for you, this exercise may be more challenging and therefore more enlightening!
I wish I could have someone else do this for me… but alas, I am alone. I made a nice little collection of things, but they were all very clear to me. I picked some similar things like a greeting card, the envelop for the greeting card, and an index card but they all felt very different. I feel like I have played this game all my life while driving and digging for things in my purse!
This was a fun little project. I look forward to more!
