#1722. The Five Senses

Science, level: Pre-School
Posted Tue Apr 25 10:30:53 PDT 2000 by Abigail Cunningham (Peanut561@hotmail.com).
My personal web page
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA USA
Materials Required: paper bag, lemon, orange, salt, sugar, feathers, tape, sandpaper etc...
Activity Time: 45 minutes to an hour
Concepts Taught: Learn what each sense does for the child

NOTES

I got all the information in this lesson plan from the web sites listed below. These web sites are great
to get more information on the five senses. There are many more great ideas for activities to do with the
children in the web sites as well. There are also sample lesson plans and ways to contact people for
further information. Some of the web sites also give many other great lesson ideas. Some range from a
class period to a whole entire unit. They are mostly based on preschool aged children. For older
children's activities, you may want to search elsewhere.

The lesson is pretty self explanatory. Seeing that the lesson is geared to preschool children, the lesson
must be fairly simple in order for the children to fully understand. I also made the majority of the lesson
hands-on because I believe that children, especially at this age, learn the best that way.

I wanted the children to be able to use each sense individually. I thought by covering their eyes for the
majority of the five senses, they would be able to tell what each sense helped them do. Going outside for
the rest of the activity also, I feel, is very important. It provides them with variety and children need to
go outside at least once a day anyway. Why not make their time outside educational!

I also want to point out that this lesson is designed for only one class interval. With the preschool
children, I would make this lesson a week or two long. This lesson would be for the first day to introduce
the children to all of the five senses. Each day following this lesson I would take each sense individually
and discuss it in further detail to make sure the children understand the concept fully. I think this is the
best way to handle this lesson. I would have to say that others agree with me because the sample lesson
plans I found on the internet had this lesson set up to stretch throughout a week or so.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. You can get my email address by
going back to the lesson plan page and then going HOME! Visit the sites below for further information.
Thank you for checking my lesson plan out! I hope it comes to some good use for you!

Web sites:

Gayle's Preschool Rainbow-Activity Central
http://preschoolrainbow.org/
After you get here, click on 5 Senses!

Lesson Plan Theme Ideas
http://members.xoom.com/Theme_ideas/themes2.htm
scroll down and click on nutrition/safety/5 senses

Five Senses
http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/freelessonplans/fivesenses.html

The Perpetual Preschool
http://perpetualpreschool.com/

To find Lesson Plans
www.teachersnet.com

Grade Level: Preschool Children (30 minutes)

Topic: The Five Senses

Analysis of Audience:

Demographic Characteristics:
There are 15 children in the group. Of them, 8 are girls and 7 are boys. The ages of the
children range from ages 3-5. The children are of all different ethnic backgrounds and they have
all been born and raised in the Pittsburgh area (going about 20 minutes all directions from the
city). Most of the children live in the suburbs. There are only two that are more rural.
The preschool is located in Hendersonville, PA. There is a developing business area
right by the preschool. The preschool was opened so that the parent workers of these new
buildings could have their children close to their work in case of any emergencies, as well as for
their convenience. At the end of the work day, the parents just have to go right across the street
to pick up their children. This eliminates any problems of being late due to rush hour traffic.
The teacher's and parents both find the system very satisfying.

Topic-Specific Characteristics:
The four and five year olds are obviously more advanced than the three years old. The
older children are being prepared for kindergarten in the fall. We are more concerned about the
play activities for the three and younger four year olds. This sometimes hinders the activities
that we are able to do. If we can incorporate all the children in the same activity, it works much
better. It is too hard, sometimes, to have two different lessons at the same time because the
children always want to be together. So the lessons have to be done in a way that all the children
can fully understand them. We challenge the older children with questions and answers.
We ask that before the children enter the preschool, that they have already experienced
some time away from their homes, mom and dad. This helps out with not having a huge
transition period for the children. It also allows us to get started right away with our activities. I
think it also helps the children knowing they can see mommy or daddy's work right from our
windows.
Objectives:
Following circle time activites, with the preschool students using their five
senses, the students will be able to name their five sense and name what body
part is used for each sense with 100% accuracy.

The learners will be able to:
1. Name the five senses
2. Name body part used for each sense
3. Determine what a item is with their eyes closed by smelling, touching
tasting and hearing
4. Go outside and use sight to identify objects
(3 and 4 are classifying objects using one sense)

Rationale:
I am doing this lesson because it is a basic need for the children to know and
comprehend. They will be able to understand how their body functions a little
more. They will know that all the senses work together and they will see how it
may be diffucult to live without one of those senses. If there was ever a
student in my classroom that was blind or deaf, this lesson may help the
children understand that child's disability.

CONTENT

Teaching aids needed:
paper bags rattle
orange drum
lemon noise maker
salt coins
sugar pacifier (other objects to fit in paper bag that the children would be familiar with touching)
feather
sandpaper
tape

Room Arrangement:
The activities will all be done at circle time. The children will be sitting in a circle.

Content/Learning/Subject Matter:
Today we are going to talk about our five senses. Does anybody know what our five senses are?
They are sight, smell, touch, hearing, tasting. What we are going to do today is use our five senses
individually so you can see what each one does. First we are going to use our sense of smell. What do
we use to smell? We use our noses. Everybody close their eyes and without looking, I am going to place
something under your nose and you see if you can tell what it is (place an orange under children's noses,
then a lemon.) Next we are going to use our sense of touch. I have a paper bag filled with different
things. Some may be hard, soft, sticky, or rough. Without looking, stick your hand in the bag and see if
you can tell what any of the objects are (let each child take their turn and then ask what the children think
they felt. then pull the objects out to see if they are right. Ask them what the object felt like, sticky,
hard, soft, etc.) Next we are going to use our sense of taste. Another good activity to incorporate with
touch is the song, Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. You can have all the children stand up and sing
this song. if the children do not know this song yet, now would be a great time to incorporate it.
Everyone again must close their eyes and using their mouth only, tell me what they are eating or tasting.
Give each child a chance and see if they know what they are eating (use oranges, sugar, salty things, like
pretzels, etc.) Next we are going to use our sense of hearing. Close your eyes once again and listen to
what you hear. When you know what it is raise you hand and let me know (play the drum, noise makers,
and rattle here). For more sounds, take the children outside and ask them what they can hear (birds, cars,
etc.) Now that you are outside, you can use your sense of sight. You can do this indoors, but it's a good
way to get the children outside for an activity. Ask the children what they can see. This would be a great
opportunity to play the "I Spy" game. After everyone has gotten a chance to play, go back inside to sit in
the circle. Go over the five senses again with the children, letting the children say them with you out
loud. Restate what each sense helps you do. Let the children ask questions throughout the activity, but
encourage them at this point. Ask the children who can name the five senses on their own and then ask
who can tell what each sense helps us do. Today we used our hands to touch, our eyes to see, our ears
to hear, our mouths to taste and our noses to smell. Point to each body part as you say this.