Our Five Senses

Today’s Playgroup was all about the Five Senses.  We went around in a circle and asked everyone what they could see, hear, and smell.  We also played a fun sock and smelly game to help us focus on using one sense at a time.  To help everyone remember what those five senses were and what they do for us everyone got to work on a coloring page to take home.  The kids could each draw something they could see, hear, taste, touch and smell.

Try taking your child on a field trip.  Find a good place to stop and ask them what they hear or smell.  This will help teach them how often they use their senses.   

What’s In the Sock?

Take some random items around the house and hide them inside a clean sock.  Hand them around to your toddler one at a time and see if they can figure out what’s inside without looking.  For this Playgroup we used play dough, a sea shell, corn, a rock, a small car, a toy cup, a dinosaur and some dried kidney beans.  Try using items that are hard, squishy, textured or pokey to give your kids a variety of things to feel+.  It was fun to watch the kids guess what each was. You could really tell when they know what the object was (like the play dough) because it was something they had played with a lot.  Try using some items around the house that the kids don’t often play with, such as a comb or some dice.  See how well you kids can identify something based on touch alone

We had everyone close their eyes and tell us what they could hear and smell.  Since we were outside we could smell the grass and hear a train as it passed a few miles away.  The funny thing was that each kid seemed to have a favorite sound.  Some of the kids got really excited by the sound of the train, while others liked to hear the other kids playing on the playground.  Ask your kids what sounds they like to hear!  You may be surprised by what they have to say.

What Smells?

Here’s a fun game we played to help the kids use their nose!  Take a bunch of smelly stuff and put them in some small separate containers.  Have you ever thought about your favorite smell?  It’s easy to think about the bad smells like dirty diapers or wet dog.  But what smells are good, or just plain weird?  We used cinnamon, coco powder, mustard, vinegar, and apricot jam.  Try using some other smells such as bananas, onion, or your own perfume.  Find out what kind of smells you kid likes!  See if they can identify what the smell is and where they’ve smelt it before.