Lesson Plan Ideas: Using Our Five Senses

December 5th, 2017 | 2 min. read

By:

{"avatar":"","bio":"","cdnPurgeEmbargoTime":null,"cosObjectType":"BLOG_AUTHOR","created":1697228543735,"deletedAt":0,"displayName":"Gryphon House","email":"","facebook":"https://www.facebook.com/GryphonHouseInc","fullName":"Gryphon House","gravatarUrl":null,"hasSocialProfiles":true,"id":140132165132,"label":"Gryphon House","language":"en","linkedin":"https://www.linkedin.com/company/572033?trk=tyah&trkInfo=tarId%3A1413837637564%2Ctas%3AGryphon%20house%2Cidx%3A2-1-2","name":"Gryphon House","portalId":4344835,"slug":"gryphon-house","translatedFromId":null,"translations":{},"twitter":"https://twitter.com/GryphonHouse","twitterUsername":"@GryphonHouse","updated":1701217078439,"userId":null,"username":null,"website":""}

Gryphon House

By Gryphon House

Children love to explore the world using their five senses. Young children especially learn by listening to music, holding things, looking at them, and, yes, tasting them! In the classroom, the five senses can be used as a pathway to learning new concepts. By introducing sensory elements to students, they can be more engaged.

Children love to explore the world using their five senses. Young children especially learn by listening to music, holding things, looking at objects, and, yes, tasting things! In the classroom, the five senses are a natural pathway to learning. When sensory elements are introduced in the classroom, students become more engaged.

Jackie Silberg’s Exploring the Senses Through Play provides dozens of fun sensory activities that can fit in any classroom curriculum. From teaching the science of the sound to using the touch to learn new concepts, here are five fun sense activities to try in your classroom.

Hearing Loud and Soft

Materials:

A CD or video that plays instrumental music
A CD player

What to Do:

Play the CD. Ask your children to listen for the soft and loud sounds
If the sound is soft, ask them to squat down on the ground. If the sound is loud, ask them to stand up straight and put their arms in the air
Play a full song for the children to move to. Afterwards, ask them what they thought of the different types of sounds

The Color of Eyes

Materials:

White pieces of paper
Pencil
Crayons
Mirror

What to Do:

Have each child fold a piece of white paper into four equal parts
On one part, ask the children to draw an eye
Give the children mirrors and have them look at their reflection and say their eye color
On the other three parts of the paper, ask the children to draw things that are the same color as their eyes (i.e. a brown dog, a blue ocean, green grass)

Bag Mysteries

Materials:

Three plastic bags
Sensory materials (small stones, sand, clay, etc.)

What to Do:

Fill the three plastic bags with different sensory materials
Let the children reach in each bag and tell you how it feels. Encourage sensory vocabulary like squishy, soft, smooth, hard, rough, etc.

Sweet-or-Sour Game

Materials:

Paper cups
Cotton swabs
Lemon juice
Sugar water

What to Do:

Partially fill one paper cup with lemon juice and a second cup with sugar water
Give each child two cotton swabs—one for each liquid. Ask them to dip one swab into the lemon juice and touch it to different parts of their tongues
Ask the children to do the same with the sugar water
Talk about the differences in taste. Is one taste stronger than the other? Do they taste the same?

Topics:

Lesson Planning

Article

Learning Centers & Play

Lesson Plan Ideas: Using Our Five Senses

Related Articles

3 Activities to Bring in May

Books for Creative Curriculum Approaches

5 Fun Nature Activities for April

5 Transition Strategies That Really Work

3 Festive Thanksgiving Craft Ideas for Children Ages 3 to 6

Fourth of July Activities for Preschoolers

Tips for Quality Learning in Quarantine

Virtual Preschool with Early Childhood Expert Marnie Forestieri

7 Activities to Celebrate Chinese New Year

3 Fun Persuasive Writing Activities for Kids

Overlapping Math: Three Activities to Integrate Math with other Classroom Subjects

5 Super Fun Indoor Gym Activities for Preschoolers

Collaborative Planning Works, Here's Why

Back-to-School STEM Ideas

Preparing for Science Projects

What is Symbolic Play?

Lesson Plan Idea for National Space Day: Blast Off!

Learning with Laughter: Making Early Learning Fun

5 Awesome Ideas for Preschool Field Trips

Experiencing the Arctic: Animals and Habitats

Art Activities that Inspire Imagination

How Learning Experiences Differ in a Project-Based Preschool

Kindergarten Lesson Plan Idea: Holidays around the World

Learning Center Ideas: Storytelling with Puppets