Inside four boxes (each about the size of a computer monitor) place several unusual objects: a fake Halloween nose, an oddly shaped piece of wood, a cloth puppet, some "silly putty," a hank of crepe hair, and other objects that would provide an unusual but interesting tactile experience.

          After placing five or six of these objects into each box, seal the boxes with duct tape so that they are impossible to open. Then, cut a small hole---just large enough to insert a hand into one end of the boxes. Over the hole of each box staple a small piece of cloth that's large enough to cover it.

          Divide the class into four groups and have students in each group take turns exploring their respective boxes. Instruct students not to squeeze anything in the box too hard---especially if it moves.

        Follow these procedures:

1. Limit each student to one minute of exploration.
   
2. Explain that students are not to remove anything.
   
3. After their turn, have students return to their desks and write their descriptions.
   
4. Mention that simile and metaphors work well.
   
5. As students finish writing, give them the option of exploring a second box and writing a second paper for additional points.
   

          As a follow-up, assign students a paragraph about memories of touch. As a model, share with them author Diane Ackerman's passage about smells:

          Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary, and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the Poconos, when wild blueberry bushes teemed with succulent fruit and the opposite sex was as mysterious as space travel; another, hours … on a moonlit beach in Florida, while the night-blooming cereus drenched the air with thick curds of perfume and huge sphinx moths visited the cereus in a loud purr of wings; a third, a family dinner of pot roast, noodle pudding, and sweet potatoes, during a myrtle-mad August in a midwestern town, when both of one's parents were alive.