Do you believe in ESP? Do you believe that one person can know what another is thinking? Forgive me, but I do not believe in ESP. At least, I’ve never seen it work.
(My wife always seems to know exactly what I’m thinking when she pulls a tray of freshly baked cookies out of the oven – but that’s a story for another time.)
I recently introduced my two young kids to the concept of ESP. I don’t want them adopting wacky, paranormal beliefs – but I do think there’s some learning and some fun to be had here.
And don’t we all sometimes wish that ESP was real? Wouldn’t it be great if you could really know what someone else was thinking? I do. And when I mentioned this concept to my boys, they certainly wished they could do it. In fact, they wanted to test their ESP abilities out.
We made a test that’s also an art activity. It’s easy.
First, you need at least two or more participants (so if you only have one child on hand, you’ll need to try your hand at this.)
Hand each person a blank piece of paper. Fold the paper in half three times, and that will give you each eight sections in which to draw. Grab some crayons or pencils, and you guys are ready to begin.
Put a “1” in one of the squares and think up a jungle animal to draw there. To test out your ESP abilities, try to read the other person’s mind and draw the animal they’re thinking of! Can you do it?
Don’t let the other experimenters see your drawing just yet. Instead, when you’re ready, put a “2” into another square and have everybody draw a food that you could eat for dinner. Again, try to read the other artists’ minds using your ESP powers.
Here are more items to draw in the remaining squares:
3. A vehicle – any vehicle
4. A person in your family
5. A flag for any country (real or imaginary)
6. A character in a book or on a TV show
7. A stuffed animal
8. Something – anything – that’s really cool
When you’re done drawing all the items, compare your results. Was anyone able to read another person’s mind?
When my family was done with this activity, we decided we had proved that ESP, sadly, is not real. But we had a lot of fun in the experimenting!
Try it out in your house and it will be a big hit! I somehow know this in my brain in advance without actually communicating with you. Hmmm…..
