Learning About Our 5 Senses

I pick up so many great things at yard sales.  My most recent find was the book, My Five Senses by Aliki, snatched it up for .25 cents!  I had been wanting to teach Tiffany about the 5 senses and thought this book would be a good start. After not being able to get the book from our local library I was really excited with my find!

We read the book before we even got out of the car after the yard sale!  We both really enjoyed it and I was even more motivated by Tiffany's positive response to get started with our 5 senses activity.  I had a few ideas on how to do this activity and finally opted with using poster board to make a kind of graph.  Here's what we used:

• Poster board
• Photos found online
• Laminator
• Glue
• Permanent marker
• Stickers

First, I started off by gluing photos that signify our 5 senses; hand, nose, mouth, eyes and ears.  I glued them across the top of the poster board.  To separate each sense I drew lines going down so that each one had it's own column.

Next, with more photos found online, I printed and laminated different things.  I used clouds, drums, books, ice-cream, feathers and flowers.  I put these photos into a basket to use for when we were ready to play.

Because I also wanted my daughter to physically touch, see, hear, taste and smell I collected some things from around the house and put them in a bag to include with our lesson.

Now we were all ready!  We used the laminated photos first and as we took them from the basket I asked Tiffany which sense she would use for each.  She then took some small round stickers and put the sticker under the correct sense.  The reason for this part was to chart which sense we use most often.  Once we were finished with the laminated photos I brought out the bag of things I collected.  She pulled one item  out at a time and used the same process as above.  The only difference with this part was that she physically got to use her senses.

Once finished she counted each sticker and wrote the number at the bottom of the chart.  From this activity we learned that the sense of sight was used most often.

When we were all done we read the book, My Five Senses again and hung up our chart, which she was very proud of!!

Learning about our 5 senses doesn't stop here.  We continue to talk about which senses we are using like for example when we are taking a walk or when we are eating, etc.

If you would like to introduce your child to their senses simply talking about them on a daily basis will be a great way to start!