We recently spent a week focusing on learning more about our five senses. We read some great books on the subject, from friends and from the library. Here are some of the fun activities we got up to, most of them from Learn-Play-Imagine:
SENSE OF TASTE
We played a game where I blindfolded the kids and then gave them different foods to taste. They had to 1) guess what they were tasting, and 2) describe the taste (sweet/sour/bitter, etc).I used sugar, salt, lemon, vinegar and muffin crumbs.
It was fun watching their facial expressions changed as they explored the different tastes. They did well with guessing what the items were, except for the vinegar….they didn’t really know what vinegar was anyway …lol!
And all Zizwe was up to was eating the muffin crumbs……until he tasted the lemon….lol!
SENSE OF TOUCH
Next game, still with the blindfolds on, I put a number of items with various textures in a pillowcase. The kids had to take each one out, feel and describe the texture (soft/hard/pokey, etc) and guess what each item is. They did pretty well, and it was a good opportunity to try to use more descriptive words.
After that, to emphasise the importance of the sense of touch and our skin, I put the items back in, and this time they had to put thick socks over their hands, and try to feel the items. And this was definitely more challenging, and we had a lot more peeking …haha!
SENSE OF SIGHT
On another day, we played a game focusing on the sense of sight. I blindfolded them once again, and sent them to do ordinary things around the house with the blindfold on. Kumi did well navigating the house, while Hubo pretty much held on to her for most of the time haha!
I also asked them to get a book and read it while blindfolded, and then chatted about blind people, guide dogs, braille, etc.
SENSE OF HEARING
The following day, we played a game focusing on the sense of hearing. I blindfolded them once again, and one of them had to stand in one spot in the room and clap, and the other had to guess and point where the sound was coming from.
This was pretty easy for them, plus we had played this before, but then we also got a chance to chat about people who are deaf, and how they communicate.
Meanwhile, this is what happens when lessons take long and people’s nap times are overdue 🙂
SENSE OF SMELL
For this, we just went outdoors and smelt the different flowers in our yard.
OTHER RESOURCES
We watched this short Youtube clip, explaining the different senses.
If you’d like to see some of the resources I liked/used, you can check out my Pinterest Board on Senses.
Please feel free to share some ideas or stuff you’ve done with your little ones to teach them about senses.