Ten Activities for
Teaching the Five Senses
Our senses allow us to
enjoy our food, the sound of music, the beauty of a sunny day, the softness of
a child's hair -- in short, our lives! With the aid of the Internet, you can
teach your students about the special gift of the senses and how they work.
They will encounter sound by making instruments, guess what is inside a feely
bag by using touch, or rub a homemade scratch 'n' sniff gingerbread boy!
Experimenting with the senses is fun for everyone! Included: Web links to
additional "senses" resources!
We rely on our five senses to provide
information about the world around us. Just the thought of a special holiday
dinner brings to mind many observations made through the senses -- the smell of
dinner cooking, the sound of holiday music, the taste of freshly baked cookies,
and more. Children may recognize the importance of their senses, but they don't
often focus on them individually. With the help of Web resources, you can teach
your students to identify their senses and put them to use in the classroom.
To begin or end your study of the senses,
bring them together in a simple language arts activity called the sensory poem.
Your students may choose their themes, but they must involve all the senses.
Holidays, seasons, and other broad concepts make nice topics. List the five
senses -- sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch -- for the students. Tell
them that they must address one sense in each line of the poem. The first line
should include a color, and the last may include touch or emotion. You may
allow students to put the other lines in any order they choose.
Here is an example:
Spring
[Color] Spring is green with
bright yellow buds,
[Sight] New shoots emerge from the dark brown earth,
[Smell] The scent of rain mixes with blossoms in the air,
[Hearing] Birds chirp with newfound vibrato in the trees,
[Taste] Succulent strawberries ripen in the sun,
[Emotion] All is fresh, warm, and beautiful in the world.
Additional examples of basic sensory
poetry can be found online at Miss Caroll's Class.
TEN TERRIFIC WAYS TO
TEACH THE FIVE SENSES
The five senses lend themselves to science
activities that require students to make observations with their eyes, ears,
nose, tongue, and skin. That isn't all, though! Ten great activities will have
your students investigating with and thinking about their senses.
What's in the box? Making sound boxes is a
fun experiment that requires students to concentrate on their sense of hearing.
All you need for this simple activity is a variety of small objects and empty
boxes, cans, or other containers. Place one or more like objects inside the
container without showing your students, and ask them to identify the objects
inside by their sound as you move the container. To simplify the experiment or
to have your students work with each other in pairs, give the students
identical sets of objects. They may then take turns placing an object inside
the container for a partner, and the partner may examine the objects while
listening to guess which one might be inside. The Sense Testing Game Craft, from About.com, has a few brief
ideas for using this concept with the senses of hearing and smell.
Scent of gingerbread. What is more inviting
than the smell of gingerbread? Put your students' olfactory sense to work via
the traditional story of The
Gingerbread Man. Read this short online version of the tale and have your
students color and cut out their own gingerbread men with the Gingerbread
Man Coloring Page. Then allow them to place glue on the tummies of their
gingerbread men and sprinkle spices such as ginger and cinnamon onto it. When
dry, these papers make delightful scratch 'n' sniff cards. Annie's
Gingerbread Page has other gingerbread ideas, including recipes. Your
Sense of Smell gives details about how we use our noses to smell.
What is missing? Your students can play a
very easy game that reinforces an understanding of sight. Remove an object in
the classroom when students aren't able to see. Have them try to solve the
mystery -- what is missing? Younger kids can play a version of the game with
shapes. The teacher may ask students to find something that is round, square,
triangular, etc. or have them guess something the teacher sees that has one of
these shapes. The shape-related coloring pages you will find at the Sesame
Street: Coloring Page Menu are ideal for helping students review and
recognize common shapes in association with this game.
Colorblindness. Colorblindness is an
inherited condition caused by a defect in the cone receptors of the retinas of
the eyes. Very few women are colorblind, but approximately one in ten men has
some degree of colorblindness. You have probably already encountered a test for
colorblindness, but your students might not have had such an opportunity. A
good example can be found on the Web at Color
Vision Testing Made Easy. After your students have examined the tests, talk
about what impact colorblindness might have on a person's daily life. How could
being colorblind influence a person's choice of career?
Feely bags. What's in the bag? Kids
have to guess by using their sense of touch in this activity. Gather objects
that are soft, smooth, rough, bumpy, etc. and put them into paper bags. Pass
them around the classroom so students can investigate with their hands to
"see" the objects. When all the students have had the opportunity to
feel the objects, instruct them to share their ideas. List the suggestions for
each bag on the board, and then open the bags to reveal their contents. How
accurate is the sense of touch as shown through this experiment?
Optical illusions. Is seeing really
believing? Optical illusions can deceive the eyes. These visual tricks amaze
students. Because our eyes work in specific ways, they can also give us false
impressions when presented with optical illusions. Have your students try the
illusions at SandlotScience
Optical Illusions and Optical
Illusions. Your students will also enjoy creating their own optical
illusions, such as a picture that people interpret in different ways or an
image made of lines.
Original instruments. Playing instruments they
make is one of the most creative and unique ways your students can experiment
with the sense of hearing. Have kids organize "bands" and design
their own musical instruments. They should prepare songs to share with other
class members. Will they have guitars, drums, or kazoos? Your students may
choose, as long as they make the instruments themselves. For inspiration, send
the class to the Virtual
Museum of Music Inventions. You might even consider sending pictures of the
students' instruments to this online museum for display.
Braille. Blind people use the
system of dots called Braille to communicate, and your students are sure to
find an investigation of it enlightening. The International Braille Research Center explains how blind
people use Braille. The History
of Reading Codes for the Blind shares the background of this system. For an
explanation of the system itself, see The Six Magic Dots of Braille. When you finish reading
these online materials, invite your students to design their own communication
system for blind people. How would they make it work? How would it differ from
Braille?
ADDITIONAL RELATED
LINKS!
Come to Your Senses
If you want to better understand how they work, you need to come to your
senses! This Web site shows children how their bodies provide them with their
five senses. It offers many interesting facts and lots of useful links.
Five Senses
Here you will find a four-part lesson that teaches students in grades 2 through
5 about the five senses. Written by educator Heather Hirst, this collection of
activities makes use of books and poems and includes writing assignments.
Five
Senses
Take advantage of the background information provided by this page, and then
incorporate it into the many related activities you will find on the site. A
list of classroom activities that address each of the five senses is provided.
Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2005 Education World
Article originally published 05/22/2000
Links last updated 09/23/2005
