Your parent made a sound and you pointed toward it. Sound gave you a clue without a direct view. Many bats gather sound clues too, but their method includes another journey.

A bat sends out a call. Sound reaches something nearby and some returns to the bat. A returning sound is an echo. Echolocation means finding things by using those returning echoes.

The bat listens to its own call coming back, rather than only listening for noise made by another animal. Echoes can help it navigate or hunt. Follow the two arrows in the drawing: out toward an object, then back toward the listener.

Compare that with your first drawing. Your parent’s sound traveled straight from the parent to you. You did not send the call and hear it return. The seated game explores listening for direction. It is a useful starting clue, but it does not demonstrate a bat’s echolocation.

If a bat uses sound, must it be blind? No. Using one kind of clue does not mean having no other senses.

Not every bat uses echolocation. Some fruit bats, including Rodrigues fruit bats and straw-colored fruit bats described by Cleveland’s zoo, use sight and smell to navigate. The name bat covers animals with different ways of gathering information.

That matters when you make an explanation. "Many bats use returning echoes" leaves room for differences. "Every bat finds everything only by sound" does not.

Your own seated activity gave you one kind of clue. You also kept your eyes open and used a safe place to sit. It would be a mistake to turn that short experience into a rule about all bats. Keep the echo route, the other senses and the differences between animals together. There is no need to find, catch or touch a bat to explore these ideas.