Binoculars in the Forest

We headed to the forest this morning with binoculars in hand. What will we be able to see using these binoculars?

There was a lot of debate on how to use them. Many friends tried out different ways to look through the binoculars. 

L began using her binoculars to look at the ground and the leaves. 

"Look a leaf!"

C took a different approach with his binoculars. 

"I can see things like this, but they look really small. You can't see anything if you use them the other way. It's all like not working."

C continued to use his binoculars in an unconventional way, but was content because he was able to see things. 

Why did the binoculars work one way, but not the other? Why was it blurry sometimes? 

"My feet look so tiny! If I look like this I can see my feet, but they are so small!"

"Binoculars help you see things close up."

"They like make it kind of bigger."

"You can use binoculars inside and outside."
"Yeah, but you can see lots of things outside with them."

"They help you see far away!" 

The conversation about binoculars did not  necessarily match what the children were experiencing. They knew how binoculars should work, but when they tested them out for themselves, they were getting different results. Over the week we will continue to see if their experiences with the binoculars change from what they thought they knew on how they worked.