The Five Main Senses

The five primary senses are a lot of fun to explore with a toddler (and an infant, too). And it's easy to do literally wherever you are. When my daughter woke up, I asked her to tell me what she saw around her. During breakfast, I asked her what her food tasted and smelled like. Doing these activities with a kid also makes me pay attention to a lot of stimuli that I tune out as an adult.

1. Sight
2. Smell
3. Hearing
4. Taste
5. Touch

Tuesday is the day for exploring these senses (and how they affect each other and our perceptions of the world around us) with my toddler. Evie is two, and like many 2-year-olds, she's game to try pretty much anything. So here are the activities that I thought of for today, to help my daughter learn about her senses:

• TOUCH: Put objects in paper bags without her seeing, and then have her reach inside to feel and describe what she's touching. Then she can guess what each bag contains. I chose to use a potato, pipe cleaners, a back roller, dry pasta, water beads, peeled grapes, unsharpened pencils, and the end of a loaf of bread. Evie guessed the bread right away and exclaimed, "Oooooh a snack!" PS: If it were summer, I'd be really tempted to put something like a frog or a cricket in one of the bags.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• TOUCH: Make a small sensory board. Use a piece of paper, and tape or glue squares of different material to it in rows. Then feel and compare the different textures. Some materials to use: aluminum foil, fabric, sandpaper, towel (from an old rag), cardboard, bubble wrap, etc... When we are done, Evie can then show it to her 4-month-old brother. He will be entertained by the sensory experience, and she can give him descriptions of what she's collected on the page. One of the best ways to learn, after all, is by teaching something to someone else. I try to get my infant as involved in what we are doing as possible, and I encourage as many interactions between the two children as I can. Plus Evie will be making something for him, and learning to think about someone else (and their perceptions).

• SMELL: Wrap a blindfold around her eyes and hold different smells under her nose for an olfactory experience. Such as: candles, fruits, bread, mint, peanut butter, dryer sheet... Then describe what smell is: tiny molecules of whatever you are sniffing. 

• TASTE: Paper plate with dabs all around the edge of things like peanut butter, jam, ranch, ketchup, mustard, syrup, cream cheese, etc., that she can lick off of her finger for taste testing. My toddler is more likely to taste something if she can get just a tiny lick of it, rather than popping a bite in her mouth. This activity was a HUGE hit with my daughter. She described the textures of each of the things she tasted, told me which ones she liked and didn't like, and talked about how her tongue was sending messages to her brain. Plus it kept her busy for more than ten minutes! We used barbecue sauce, ketchup, dijon mustard, honey, maple syrup, peanut butter, strawberry greek yogurt, cream cheese, and ranch dressing. 

• HEARING: Place a line of objects in front of the toddler, such as an empty box, a can and a solid wooden block, then tap each of them with your finger, a pencil, etc... to hear the differences in sound. Any musical instruments like drums, pianos, or bells would be great here, as well. Explain how all sounds are made by vibrations. 

• HEARING: Listen to recordings of different animal sounds and guess what made them (google has a small selection). This is very entertaining. For instance, I never knew what sound a panda made! Speculate about the sounds that animals make that we can't hear, because they are either too high or low-pitched. Then imagine what the animals are trying to communicate with their different noises.

• SIGHT: Look at a book of optical illusions! 

Finally, try a mindfulness meditation. This will combine many of the senses that we have explored. We can sit quietly (while the baby naps), and focus on everything around us. We can name what we see, then close our eyes and focus on what we hear and smell. We can feel the floor beneath our fingertips and call our attention to where we feel our clothing against our skin (feelings we generally ignore). 

Here's a list of the books for today:

• How Do Your Senses Work? by Judy Tatchell
• The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole (I use Magic School Bus A LOT)
• Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr
• Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss
• Splat the Cat and the Duck with No Quack by Rob Scotton
• Eyes by Aleksander Jedrosz
• My First Touch and Feel Sound Book: Noisy Farm from tiger tales publishing
• Eye-Popping Illusions Activity Book from Arcturus publishing

There are many other senses than just these five, of course. Balance, for instance, is entertaining for a toddler. Stand on one foot! Stand on something wobbly! Walk on a balance beam!


Links: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/soundeffects