Five Senses Activities

Project #1: Sense Eggsamples

The objects in our eggs have smelly and sensory properties, so kids can explore three or more senses simultaneously.

You need at least 6 plastic eggs (all the same color, preferably) and small sensory objects. These can include:



 

dandelion heads
flower petals
cinnamon stick (cut up)
pinto beans
peppercorns
whole cloves
hard candy (peppermint, lemon drops, root beer barrels)
smelly erasers
scented wet wipes (cut into small squares)
pine needles
cinnamon toothpicks (cut up)
dry oatmeal

 

Any other non-smelly objects, such as pom poms, can be sprayed with air freshener or rubbed with a dry soap bar. 

When your child opens an egg, you can ask her questions about the contents, such as,

“How do they smell? How do they feel?” 

After closing the eggs, she can shake them to hear what they sound like.




You can then mix up the eggs. Ask your child to shake each one and guess what’s inside. For more fun, make a double of each egg for a matching sound game.

Why we like it: Like all of our projects, this activity is multi-faceted and has potential for development. You can expand the activity to include taste, and you can come up with your own filling ideas.


Project #2: Cube and Card Game

First, make a five senses cube out of a wood block (found at craft stores), or you can print out our paper block (look under Lesson 3). Wood block instructions can be found here, folding paper block instructions can be found here. There are several ways to play with the cube. Here are some of our ideas:

 




1. Favorite Things - Ask your child her favorite things to sense. For example, if she rolls the sense of sound (ear) then ask her what her favorite sound is.

2. I Spy - Ask your child to find things in the room to sense. If your child rolls the sense of touch (finger) then ask her to find something in the room that has an interesting feel.

3. Use picture cards (we used some from Classic Memory). Ask your child to pick a card to match the sense she rolled.  For instance, if she rolled the sense of sight, then she should try to pick a picture of an object she exclusively uses sight to sense (clouds, sun, moon). For the side of the cube that shows all five senses, have some cards of crunchy, noisy foods available to choose from.

 




Why We Like It: