The 5 senses: a preschool activity
Yesterday I posted a list of preschool activities. I’m sure
the list made me sound super organized and efficient. Unfortunately, I’m not.
For example: a while ago, I bought a neat calendar that showed
day-by-day schedules for preschoolers with music time, fun finger snacks, art
projects, and play ideas. I’ve looked at the calendar a few times, but so far,
all of our projects have been spontaneous. A book mentions volcanoes…
“What is a volcano?”Well, thank you, Youtube and the Hawaiian lava fields, for showing us exactly what a volcano is and does.
(This is what Montessori/child-lead learning is all about, right?)
Anyway: A few months ago, Munchkin and I started talking about how we see and smell. The topic seemed a bit abstract for preschoolers, so I created a 'sensory
paper' to show the five senses and how we use them. This is a really easy craft for preschoolers to do, and I can guarantee you’ve got all the supplies, so here’s how to
make your own:
Supplies:
- Take one piece of paper (8 ½ x 11, or larger)
- Find some crayons
- Crumple a second piece of paper (any size) up into a lump
- Pull a cotton ball apart into wads (or find a small handful of sand/dirt outside)
- Find lemon extract from the kitchen, or a perfume bottle from the bathroom
- Get the salt-shaker
- Pull out the watercolor paints (or just fill a bowl with a small amount of water)
Assembly:
- With the crayons, color a bright picture on your sheet of paper. It can be a square, a rainbow, or anything else as elaborate or simple as you want. This is sight: you see the colors with your eyes.
- Glue the crumpled sheet of paper to one corner of your page. This is sound: you can hear the paper crinkle with your ears.
- Create a small patch of glue in another corner and press the sand or the cotton ball onto the glue. This is touch: you feel the texture with your fingers.
- Drip a little of the lemon extract or other scent onto the paper. This is smell: you identify the odor with your nose.
- Spread a small patch of watercolor paint (or just plain water) on the paper and sprinkle salt onto it This is taste: you taste the salt with your tongue.
Secondary project idea:
Draw or print out pictures of hands,
noses, mouths, eyes, and ears, and then collect a small group of toys, food,
and other household items. Make a game of deciding whether a toy is smooth or rough, whether a
food is salty or sweet, using the pictures to remind your child which sense they
are using.
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