About Me Activities Part II – Teaching the Five Senses

Yesterday I gave you plenty of “All About Me” Preschool Activities that you can do with your children to help
teach them about themselves in the Physical sense. Everybody is unique, but
it goes deeper than just the Physical sense…. such as our senses. Today I
am going to give you some activities to do with your children to help you teach
them about their senses.

We have 5 senses

Here are some activities that you can do with your children so that
they can see that their senses are unique…. different than anyone else’s.

Teaching the Five Senses

In order to teach the five senses to your preschool age children you have to
be hands on…. there is no easy way to teach your children about their five
senses without having them touch, taste, hear, smell and see. So, that is exactly
what we are going to do.

Sense of Touch Activities

• My Hand Book – Help the children trace their hands on to
  paper…. these will be the pages of the book. On each page of the book have
  the children write what they like to do with their hands. You will probably
  have to help them with this project.
• Feely Box – Place different objects with different textures
  in a box or bag. Ask the children to reach in and describe what they feel.
  Can they figure out what you have in there?
• Playing in Sand – Put some sand in a box or a cake pan
  and have the kids play in it with their hands. Let them draw things in the
  sand. Have them describe what it felt like.
• Textured Finger painting – Mix some finger paints with
  sand. This creates a textured paint. Have the children paint with this textured
  finger paint concoction. What did it feel like? Did they like the way it felt?
• Being the Architect – Bring out all different types of
  material that have different textures… such as corrugated boxes, egg cartons,
  empty paper towel rolls, etc. Let the children use their imagination to build
  things.

Sense of Smell Activities

• Scratch and Sniff - Help the kids make their own Scratch
  and Sniff items. Simply spread flavored powered gelatin on a paper. Once it
  dries completely let the kids scratch and sniff them. Which one do they like
  the most? Which do they least like?
• Jars of Smells – Soak cotton balls in different flavorings
  such as peppermint, orange or lemon. Place each cotton ball in a baby food
  jar. Punch holes in the lid. Let the children smell each. Which one do they
  most like? Which do they least like?
• My Art Smells – Bring out some scented markers. Ask the
  children to draw pictures of things they love to smell…. such as flowers,
  meatloaf, shampoo, etc…
• Vote with your Nose – Using index cards spray different
  scents on each. Label each with a number and pass the cards around. Let the
  children vote on what they like most. Let them also vote what they least like.
• Potpourri - Help the children make their own Potpourri
  mixture. You can use spices such as cinnamon sticks and mint leaves. Use squares
  of netting that you can pick up at any craft store or even a discount store
  like Wal-Mart.

Sense of Taste Activities

• Look the Same / Taste Different - Provide items that look
  alike, but taste VERY different. Bring out vinegar and water, salt and sugar,
  and flour and baking soda. Let the children try each and describe the differences.
  Just a little dab on the end of the finger is good enough. What makes them
  so different even though they look similar? What are the kids’ thoughts?

Sense of Sight Activities

• My Art is BIG - Have the children draw pictures while looking
  through a magnifying glass. Is it hard or easier to draw this way? Why?
• Pin the Tail on the Donkey – This is a fun game to play
  when you are talking about the Sense of Sight. After playing the game with
  the children ask the kids if this task was difficult. Ask them why or why
  not. Listen to their detailed explanation. Talk about it.
• Look at the World Differently – Bring out different colored
  cellophane. Have the children look through each by placing a small piece of
  cellophane over the eyes (Do Not let them place the cellophane over their
  head!! This is a safety hazard). Ask the children to describe what they see
  when they look through the different color cellophane. What did they notice
  when they looked at something without the colored cellophane compared to with
  the cellophane? Which color cellophane was their favorite?
• Look at Those Eyes – Bring out pictures of human’s eyes
  and animal’s eyes. You can look for pictures online, in books, magazines or
  at a library. Show the kids all the different eyes you found? Are their any
  differences between a human eyes and an animals eyes? Discuss.

Sense of Sound Activities

• Rhythm – Help teach the children rhythm. Turn on some children’s
  music. Using instruments, sticks or even the children’s clapping hands see
  if they can find the beat. You start by discovering the beat and let them
  follow. Now, you stop…. can they continue keeping up with the rhythm?
• Make Musical Instruments - Bring out empty canisters….
  Empty Pringles cans work wonderfully for this. Fill up the canisters half-way
  with items that make different sounds. Make one musical canister with macaroni
  noodles, make the next with rice and maybe the next with pennies. They each
  should sound differently. Now, let them use their new instruments to follow
  the rhythm in a song.
• Can you Find the Sound? – Blindfold one of the children.
  Have another child make a noise. Ask the blindfolded child to point in the
  direction of the sound. Were they right? Was this a difficult task for the
  blindfolded child? Why or why not?
• Ring the Bell - Hang bells from the ceiling using yarn.
  Make sure the bells and yard are out of the way so children don’t get hurt.
  Give a child a bean bag and see if they can ring the bell. Pass the bean bag
  around and give everyone a chance to ring the bell.

In conclusion

There are so many activities that use our senses. As a matter of fact, we could
easily take our senses for granted because we use them so often. But, without
our sense our lives would be so much different. Talk to the children about this….
ask them what they think life would be like without one of our senses such as
hearing, seeing, tasting, touching or smelling.

After these activities your children should be very aware of their own senses.
There is no better way to teach children about their senses than just getting
right in and using them.

Top image by Nickster