Teaching The Five Senses In the Preschool Classroom
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
by Stephany Springer
This is without a doubt, my most favorite unit to teach in preschool. Kids love learning through the five senses. In fact, in every lesson or theme I teach, my goal is to stimulate each of the five senses.
In order to teach on the five senses, let's review what the five senses are: sight, smell, hearing, tasting and touching. It is important for preschoolers to be aware of these senses and what they do. Here are some activities that are sure to stimulate in the classroom.
I generally start with art, but the books on this topic are just as stimulating for preschoolers. Make sure you are making these books come alive as it makes learning to read later so much easier. Also make sure you feel your book center with texture books.
A great book to start with is My Five Senses by Aliki. The big book of this is actually available for check out at most local libraries. It has great illustrations and explanations of the senses. Another fun book is Forest Friends Five Senses by Cristina Garelli. It is a cute book about different animals using their senses such as the bear using taste, skunk using smell, bunny using his ears to hear and so on. Five For A Little One by Chris Raschka does a great job of using rhymes.
Art
Art time during this unit should be stimulating, messy and fun. Painting with popsicles will appeal to the touch, taste and smell aspects of the unit. You can also put peppermint flavoring in green paint and then paint with a pine branch. Another fun activity is to glue cotton on a sheep and talk about the softness. Sand paper drawings are also a good way to teach rough. Tape typing paper to sandpaper and have the kids color over to make rough designs.
Sensory Table
Place cooked spaghetti in the table and allow the kids to play. You can also place scissors in the center to practice cutting. Making goop is also fun. Mix a cup of cornstarch with a half-cup of water. You can also add food coloring. Let the kids to pretend to make cake or mush up food.
Homeliving
Have a tea party. Make real tea. Let the kids feel the tea bags when they are wet. Then pour pretend tea or real tea in the cup to taste. Don't forget to have cookies with the tea.
Music
Dancing with shakers or any music instruments really excite the hearing and touch senses. You can also sing the following song to the tune of Where is thumbkin:
Five senses, five senses
We have them. We have them.
Seeing, hearing, touching,
Tasting and smelling.
There are five. There are five.
Five Senses bags
This is great fun for the kids. Get brown lunch sacks and label them with each sense. Then place an object in the touching bag such as cotton, rock, banana, etc. Let the kids feel and try to guess the item. Then do the same with each sense. You can place a bell in the hearing. A flashlight in the seeing. A candle in the smelling and some chocolate in the tasting. Get creative.
Feel free to share any other suggestions you might have in the comment section below. Enjoy the mess and getting to be a kid again!
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