Our bodies are designed to receive and process various information using our sense organs. Explore these incredible five senses activities that boost knowledge and strengthen different skills in children.
We list ten exciting and engaging activities that will allow children to learn more about their bodies that emphasize awareness of their parts and functions.
Reading books about the five senses will help enrich children’s knowledge of the topic. They will learn which body parts are considered sense organs and which are not.
These books are not just written to entertain but also to demystify facts about the topic. These will help improve children’s comprehension, listening skills and increase their vocabulary.
Knowing what happened to the characters in the book will help children relate to their own experiences. This is a fantastic way to explore social-emotional learning.
These books are perfect for science lessons and experiments for children to learn how their five senses work.
Children will learn to pay attention to details once they understand that some activities require using a single sense organ while others need more. They will also learn to associate words appropriately with each sense organ.
For example, stinky is a word used to describe the sense of smell, not hearing.
For this activity, you will need:
- Any of the Five Senses books on the list
For more information on this activity, go to EducationOutside.org.
One of the ways to help children understand how the senses work is through activities that isolate the organ that will be used.
This activity will help develop children’s auditory discrimination skills and focus. It will help build focus and visual imagery based on the sounds children hear.
This activity is perfect for centers, or hide them in the sensory bin for an added challenge.
Use clean and dry plastic eggs. Prepare two sets of six plastic eggs in two different colors for this activity.
Next, choose an object to place inside, such as jingle bells and pennies. Refer to the list of items that can be used on the site.
Use the same object for two different colors of eggs. Secure these with sticky tape. Place each set of eggs in separate containers. Have the children find the pair of eggs that matches by shaking and listening to the sounds.
For this activity, you will need:
- Plastic eggs
- Buttons
- Jingle bells
- Pennies
- Paper
- Unifix cubes
- Dry beans
- Sticky tape
- Baskets or trays for the eggs
For more information on this activity, go to PlayToLearnPreschool.us.
The texture touch box activity is a variation of the exciting mystery box usually presented during circle time. Children must find textures that match by using their sense of touch.
This activity will enhance children’s tactile perception, concentration, and attention to detail. Set this up in discovery centers for a fun sensory learning experience.
These boxes can be a mainstay all year long in classrooms. Change the contents regularly depending on the season, topic, or celebration.
Download and print the free question marks from the site. Cut these out and stick them on the front part of the boxes.
Prepare two of the same textured items, like sandpaper. Place one inside the box and the other on the table.
Next, have the children place their hands inside the box and, without looking, feel the object’s texture inside. Let them guess which of the things on the laid out matches with it.
For this activity, you will need:
- Cube-shaped tissue boxes
- Printed question mark
- Textured items
- Glue
- Scissors
For more information on this activity, go to PreKinders.com.
Explore different scents with this multi-sensory activity that teaches letter and name recognition with a fun twist. The embossed letters provide great tactile stimulation for young learners.
Using different flavors of Jell-O will allow children to discover different scents. Have a science lesson with this activity to discover different smells, such as fragrant, fruity, sweet, etc.
Write each of the children’s names on a piece of construction paper. Squeeze out glue to cover the letters. Have the children sprinkle the Jell-O powder on the glue until fully coated. Shake off the excess and let this dry.
The powder changes color when it gets wet. Make this activity more fun by asking children to guess beforehand what color their names would turn out and learn color recognition skills.
Have the children gently scratch the letters and ask them to identify the scent. Children can take turns guessing the smell on each other’s names.
For this activity, you will need:
- Construction paper
- Pencil
- Glue
- Jell-O
For more information on this activity, go to Fun-A-Day.com.
Children who can keep their eyes focused on a moving object and follow its movement have good visual tracking skills. This is an essential skill for children learning to read and write.
This visual tracking can be done differently and modified according to children’s needs. This activity is an excellent practice for color recognition, directionality, and matching skills.
Ensure that the bottle caps used for this activity are clean and dry. Add color to the inside part of the bottle cap by sticking a colored dot sticker.
Make two sets for the matching activity. Place the bottle caps on a piece of paper and line up one set vertically on the left side of the paper and the other set on the right side.
Draw a line to match the colors. Have the children look at the pencil as it moves and let them trace the line with their fingers and later with a marker.
For this activity, you will need:
- Bottle caps
- Dot stickers
- Pencil
- Paper
- Marker
For more information on this activity, go to TheToolbox.com.
Learn more about the sense of taste by having children explore the different flavors of jelly beans. Children will learn color recognition and sorting skills with this activity. They can also count the candies and compare them using the words more and a few.
Children are to describe the flavors best if they cannot identify them. This is a great exercise to build their oral language skills and vocabulary.
This activity is perfect for Easter and with the book “Jack and the Jelly Bean Stalk” by Rachael Mortimer.
Have the children wash and dry their hands well. Empty a pack of jelly beans in a large bowl.
Have the children sort these out by color. Let them place these in smaller bowls. Next, let the children taste the jelly beans. Start with one color until all the children have tried it. Let them identify or describe its flavor.
Repeat this step with the other flavors.
For this activity, you will need:
- Jelly beans (like Jelly Bellies)
- Bowls
For more information on this activity, go to StayAtHomeEducator.com.
Encourage little scientists to develop their observation and data-gathering skills while exploring the pop rocks.
This multi-sensory activity will require children to investigate the pop rocks by tasting, smelling, touching, listening, and looking at these unique candies.
This activity is a great practice for children’s writing skills and vocabulary as they record and use words to describe their findings. Use different flavors of Pop Rocks for comparison. They may also discuss verbally as an alternative to writing.
Pour a pack of Pop Rocks into a cup. Ask the children to look at these and describe their color, size, and shape. Next, ask them to smell these and describe the scent.
Use the teaspoon to scoop the candies and let the children have a taste and listen as these pop. Let them describe the flavor and sound.
With clean hands, let them touch and roll the candies between their fingers. Ask them to describe its texture.
For this activity, you will need:
- Pop Rocks
- Cup
- Teaspoon
- Pop Rocks Science worksheet
For more information on this activity, go to LittleBinsForLittleHands.com.
Grouping different objects into categories is a cognitive skill children must master early on. This activity requires children to inspect an object and decide which group it belongs to.
Picking up small objects and placing them into each muffin tin cup will help improve children’s fine motor and eye-hand coordination skills. Deciding where the object goes teaches reasoning and critical thinking skills.
The site suggests using the muffin tin for individual work, while trays are recommended for group activity.
Download and print the five senses labels from the site. Laminate these for durability. Use the small cards for the muffin tins. Place each one in each cup and hand children different objects to sort.
Use available materials, such as cloth swatches, jingle bells, rocks, marshmallows, fresh flowers and leaves, sugar cubes, etc.
Have the children decide where each object will go. Ask them to provide reasons for their decisions.
For this activity, you will need:
- Printed sorting labels
- Muffin tins
- Cookie trays
- Objects for sorting
For more information on this activity, go to ThePreschoolToolboxBlog.com.
This activity will help children appreciate their sense of sight by restricting their use of it. Children will learn to value the importance of knowing an object’s color, shape, and size by merely looking at it.
In this game, without the ability to look at what they are doing, children will need to rely on their hands and feel the objects to get tasks done. This will provide a fantastic tactile sensory awareness. These games are perfect for centers and parties.
Blindfold the children while seated in front of a table. Explain the purpose of the activity and the task that is required of them. Place several wooden blocks in front of them and have them stack them.
Discuss their experience with this activity. Find out if the task was easy or not having lost sight. Have them explain how they were able to accomplish the task. This will help develop their oral language and reasoning skills.
For this activity, you will need:
- Wooden blocks
- Blindfold
For more information on this activity, go to PreKinders.com.
This scavenger hunt is a fun game that can be played both indoors and outdoors. Children may have the option to draw pictures of the objects they have found or write down the words. This is an excellent practice for their fine motor skills.
This game will allow children to search for objects and decide which section it belongs to, a good way to improve their critical thinking skills. This is perfect for playing outdoors in summer.
Modify this game and place various objects in a sensory bin for children to enjoy.
Download and print the scavenger hunt list from the site. Explain the task to the children well. Read the description in each section for younger children. Inform them that they can only take objects that fit inside their baskets.
Ask children to find an object that fits the description. Let them use pencils or markers to draw or write the object.
For this activity, you will need:
- Printed scavenger hunt list
- Pencil or markers
- A small basket
For more information on this activity, go to LifeOverCs.com.
Conclusion
These activities explore the topic of the five senses in a fun and engaging manner. These will allow children to have meaningful hands-on experience that will enable them to understand the subject thoroughly.
Include these activities in your next lesson. Thank you for reading. Come back and check out our other activity articles soon.
