The five senses help children learn about the world around them. This cheat sheet names each sense and connects it to the body part that does the sensing. Kindergarten students need these ideas to describe objects, make observations, and share what they notice.
It also helps them practice using safe and careful words when exploring.
Key Facts
- The five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
- We use our eyes to see colors, shapes, sizes, and movement.
- We use our ears to hear sounds that can be loud, soft, high, or low.
- We use our nose to smell things, such as flowers, food, smoke, or soap.
- We use our tongue to taste foods that can be sweet, sour, salty, or bitter.
- We use our skin and hands to feel if something is smooth, rough, hot, cold, soft, or hard.
- A good observation tells what you notice, such as "The apple is red" or "The bell is loud."
- Sense detectives use more than one sense when it is safe, but they do not taste unknown things.
Vocabulary
- Sense
- A sense is a way your body learns about the world.
- Sight
- Sight is the sense you use with your eyes to see things.
- Hearing
- Hearing is the sense you use with your ears to notice sounds.
- Smell
- Smell is the sense you use with your nose to notice odors.
- Taste
- Taste is the sense you use with your tongue to notice flavors.
- Touch
- Touch is the sense you use with your skin to feel how something feels.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Mixing up the sense and the body part is a common mistake because eyes are the body part and sight is the sense.
- Saying taste and smell are the same is wrong because your tongue tastes flavors and your nose smells odors.
- Using only one sense for every observation can miss important details because an object can have a color, sound, smell, and texture.
- Tasting unknown objects is unsafe because some things can make you sick or hurt your mouth.
- Calling an opinion an observation can be confusing because "I like it" is an opinion, while "It is smooth" is an observation.
Practice Questions
- 1 How many senses do we usually name when we talk about the five senses?
- 2 If you use 2 eyes and 2 ears, how many body parts are you using in all?
- 3 Name the sense you use for each object: a ringing bell, a red crayon, a soft blanket.
- 4 Why should a sense detective ask an adult before tasting something new or unknown?
Understanding The Five Senses
Your body collects clues all day long. Tiny parts of your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin notice things in the world. They send messages to your brain.
Your brain helps you understand those messages. For example, your eyes may notice a round red object. Your nose may notice a fresh fruit smell.
Your hands may feel smooth skin. Your brain puts the clues together and helps you decide that the object is an apple. This is why using more than one safe sense can give a clearer idea of an object.
The senses often work together during everyday activities. At lunch, children may notice the color of a food before they eat it. A crunchy sound can tell them something about its texture.
Its smell can affect whether they want to try it. At recess, children use sight to watch where they walk and hearing to notice a teacher calling. At home, touch helps them find a warm blanket or a cold drink.
Each clue gives useful information, but one clue does not always tell the whole story. A yellow object might be a banana, a crayon, or a toy.
Good scientists separate observations from guesses. An observation is something a child can notice with a sense. Saying that a rock feels rough is an observation.
Saying that the rock came from a volcano is a guess unless there is evidence. Children can build strong observation skills by using clear describing words. They can compare two objects by saying which one is heavier, softer, brighter, quieter, or has a stronger smell.
They can notice changes too. Ice feels cold and hard at first.
Later it may become wet water. Careful noticing helps children explain what happened.
Using senses safely is an important part of learning. Children should ask an adult before smelling a container closely, touching an unfamiliar material, or tasting any food. Some things can hurt eyes, skin, ears, or lungs.
Very loud sounds can bother ears. Very hot and very cold objects can hurt skin. Smoke, cleaning products, and unknown powders should not be smelled or tasted.
Some people hear, see, smell, taste, or feel things differently. A person may use glasses, hearing devices, a cane, or help from others to gather clues. Everyone can make observations in ways that work for them.