Geography practice activities play a crucial role in cultivating students' geographic key competency. However, observation, as a foundational component of geography practice activities is often reduced to overly formal and routine procedures that lead only to superfi cial cognitive engagement. Drawing on embodied cognition theory, this study constructs an embodied observation pathway for senior high school geography fi eldwork. The pathway follows a progressive sequence of pre-field preparation, in-field guided implementation, and post-activity reflection and consolidation, and is driven by interactions within a body-environment-cognition system. A field observation activity on fluvial landforms in a small mountainous watershed is used as a case to test the pathway in practice. The fi ndings show that focusing on the development of an embodied observation toolkit supports students' construction of geographical understanding through bodily engagement and interaction with the environment, thereby helping to cultivate their geographic key competency. Future studies should further explore AI-enhanced virtual fi eldwork environments to support embodied forms of geographical observation.