The five senses

The children will learn in this study the five senses through observations and experiments.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts and Science

By Nancy Ziegler

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Learning outcomes

The children will learn that we have five senses in which to explore our world.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

5 days

Materials/resources

• five different objects to observe
• The Sounds album
• six film containers with three matching items
• three socks filled with a different object
• four smelly cups
• salt
• sugar
• flour
• Your Five Senses by Bobbi Katz

Pre-activities

Students should know the functions of their eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and hands.

Activities

Introduce one sense a day. Spend about thirty minutes each day discussing and experimenting with the sense of the day.

Day 1:

1. Read the book Your Five Senses by Bobbi Katz.
2. Explain to the children that we have five senses: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. Today, we will discuss the sense of sight by playing a game called “What’s Missing?”
3. Lay five different objects in front of the children for them to observe with their eyes. Discuss how each object looks.
4. Then, lay a sheet or towel over the five objects. Tell the children to close their eyes, while you remove one object.
5. Remove the sheet and tell them to look at the remaining objects and guess what is missing.
6. Replace missing item, cover all five objects again, have children close their eyes and then remove another object. Continue until all five objects have been removed one at a time. There will always be four items to observe.
7. Ask: Could we play this game if we did not have the sense of sight?

Day 2:

1. Read the book The Five Senses by: Bobbi Katz. Review the sense of sight that we discussed yesterday. Introduce the sense of hearing.
2. Tell the children to close their eyes and sit in silence for one minute. Then, have the children discuss the things that they could hear. Next, use the record, Sounds, and play the first sounds on the record and allow the children to guess what they think the sound is. Continue to listen and discuss the sounds on the record.
3. Last, use six film canisters. Place sand in two containers, cotton balls in two, and pennies in two.
4. Tell the children that we will shake each container and try to match the two that are the same by their sound.
5. Ask: what sense do we use to listen to the album and things in the film canisters?

Day 3:

1. Review the senses of sight and sound. Tell the children that today we will use our hands to guess what is in each of the three socks. (Prepare three socks with three different items. Example: a candle, a cookie cutter, a wooden block).
2. Pass each sock around the class and allow each child to guess what he thinks is in the sock. After everyone has guessed, reveal the object and talk about who was correct. Continue until all socks have been passed and everyone has had the chance to guess.
3. Ask: which sense did we use to try to guess what was in each sock?

Day 4:

1. Review the senses of sight, sound, and touch. Explain that today, we will use our nose to observe several smells.
2. Prepare four cups with one of each of the following: first cup with a piece of peppermint (add a few drops of water in order to enhance the smell), second cup with cinnamon, third cup with some Hershey’s chocolate, fourth cup with half of a lemon.
3. Cover each cup with aluminum foil and poke a few holes in the top. Pass each cup (one at a time) and allow the children to smell and try to guess what they think the smell is.
4. After each cup, remove the foil and show the children what made the smell. Continue until all the cups have been passed. Discuss for a few minutes about good and bad smells.
5. Ask: what sense did we use to guess what was in each cup?

Day 5:

1. Review the senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell. Explain that today we will taste three edible white substances.
2. As the children taste each item, have them try to guess what each item is. (Prepare for each child a very small portion of salt, sugar, and flour.)
3. After each child has tasted each item, discuss what each white substance is and when would we use it when we are cooking.
4. Ask: what sense did we use to guess what was on our plate?

Assessment

The teacher will assess students through observations of daily activities.

Supplemental information

Comments

Each day after you have introduced and discussed each sense, you can have the children write about their experience. (Examples: I see a bell; I hear a door creaking; I feel a candle; I smell chocolate; I taste sugar.)