Explore with your senses: Sight

We’re kick-starting our journey through the senses with the super sense of sight!

Those of us who are able to see use our eyesight for all sorts of things, both consciously and subconsciously. Whether it’s reading a book, watching TV, helping us navigate and stay alert for hazards or, of course, hunting down those sneaky clues on a Treasure Trail, we use our sight all the time when we’re awake.

But there’s more to our eyesight than we realise, and more ways we can play with it and test it out for fun! Check out our fun facts and sensory activities that will help you explore with your sense of sight.

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Sensational facts about sight

There are lots of cool things you may not know about your eyes and your sight.

• Most humans have three cones in their eyes, which allow us to see around one million different colour shades. Humans who are colour blind have two cones and see around 10,000 colours, while a rare few ‘tetrachromats’ developed an extra fourth cone and can see around 100 million colours – superhuman vision! 

• Dr Dennis Levi has the record for the best vision – he was able to identify a bright green line, a quarter of an inch thick, that was half a mile away. 

• Newborn babies see everything upside down until their brains learn to process everything the right way up! Their sight is also blurry, and they only see shades of grey. 

• There’s a phenomenon called the Ganzfeld Effect, which happens when your brain is given no visual stimuli to excite it. If you were to have a uniform space covering your whole field of vision – like in a pitch-black cave or by staring closely at a wall – your brain starts making up patterns and colours. Give it a go!

But what about sight in the rest of nature?

While some animals’ vision is rubbish compared to humans (sorry, snails - we’re talking about you), others can see way more than we can.

• Pit vipers, mosquitoes, salmon and other cold-blooded creatures can actually see in infrared, while butterflies, bees and some birds can see in ultraviolet – both spectrums are invisible to humans. 

• Chameleons can move their eyes in different directions at the same time, meaning they can have one eye facing forwards while the other looks behind for predators.

• Owls can’t actually move their eyeballs, which is why they have to spin their heads all the way around! It doesn’t stop them, though – their vision is so good that they can see a moving mouse over 150ft away! They’re also the only bird that sees the colour blue. 

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Explore with your sight at home

There are tonnes of ways that you can explore with your sight at home, whether indoors or in your garden. Try these activities out!

Activity #01: Pay close attention to your surroundings, slippery spies!

Do you really know what your home looks like? It’s time to test yourself, then! Pick a room and set a timer for one minute, then scan around the room in silence, taking in every detail. When the countdown is over, point out everything that you never noticed or paid attention to before. You might be surprised!

Not challenging enough? If you’ve got a garden, take on the same activity out there instead! It’ll be a real test of your memory and sight.

Activity #02: Curious colour spotting

As ace detectives, it’s important that you’re thorough in your hunt for the evidence. So, here’s another fun activity to test your knowledge of your house! This time, pick a colour – it could be your favourite colour or something totally random. Then, set a timer for however long you would like and scout around your house, noting how many things in your house contains that colour.

Each item only counts once, so if you choose blue and your bathroom tiles have lots of blue squares, they only count once. But, if you have six blue mugs, each one counts once.

When the timer is up, regroup and tell each other the total number of things in your house that contain that colour. Do you all have the same number, or is someone the TOP inquisitive investigator in your household?

Activity #03: I spy with my little eye… a crafty opportunity!

Have you ever paid close attention to your eyes? Have you noticed all the little details that make them yours – the colours and the shapes?

Delve into your crafty supplies, grab a mirror and try drawing, painting or sculpting one of your eyes as you see it. It might be a little tricky since you’ll have to keep looking away from the mirror to create your masterpiece.

When you’ve finished, compare your creation to the real thing, and take a look at the pieces of artwork made by other members of your household. Are they accurate? Do their eyes look the same as yours or different?

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What a puzzling sense…

For sight, your puzzle is a visual one. Say what you see to figure out the sight-related expressions. Some will come to you quicker than others but don’t give up. If your answer doesn’t fit the number of letters, try again! Solve the just-for-fun puzzle just for fun, then find the answer below. Good luck!

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Make ’em laugh!

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Test out your sight on a Treasure Trail!

Now that you’ve challenged yourselves to some fun sensory activities, it’s time to test your sight on a Trail adventure! Use it to hunt down the sneaky clues, scan around for enemy agents, examine evidence closely and search through your surroundings for the buried treasure.

But, while you’re out and about, try to stay conscious of everything you’re looking at. Have you noticed that historical building before? Have you realised how many types of plants are around you? Did you spot any wildlife scampering around? What about all the people walking past you – are they out on a mission for HQ too?

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Keep your eyes peeled for more fun with your senses!

Our journey through the senses may be over, but you can still go back and test out your skills as a qualified sensory explorer. Follow this link to keep exploring the five senses.