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45 Science Activities for Kids to Learn the 5 Senses

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What are the five senses? The 5 senses are: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. Through these senses kids explore and learn about the world around them, and learn about themselves. Teaching kids the 5 senses are integral part of curricullum from preschool, although the science of the fives senses go beyond preschool and all the way to middle school and high school. It is fun to learn about human body via science experiments and there are so many to learn about the five senses. We try to include activities for kids of all ages, from preschool to kindergarten to school age, and many of these activities can be adapted to different age groups.

45 Science Activities for Kids to Learn the 5 Senses

Learn the 5 senses with science experiments, 5-10 experiments for each sense: taste, smell, touch, see, hearing. Easy STEM activities for kids from from preschool to elementary to middle school

What kids can learn about the sense of seeing?

9 Kids Science Experiments about Light will teach them why and how we can see, and some interesting facts about light. Kids would love to see light reflection and prism. But be prepare to explain the why and science behind the magic light display. It is also necessary to teach light and energy, and invisible light, such as UV lights.

Talking about light will easily leads into color. These 7 science experiments about colors will help kids understand the science behind the colors. Why different objects have different colors? How is colors shown on computer screen different from colors shown on paper? How our eyes perceive colors? What happens when you mix colors?

After light and color, an easy transition is the sense of hearing and sound. How do you explain to kids that sound is certain type of wave? These 7 fun science activities will help kids see the sound, and get an intuitive understanding of it via visualizing the sound wave. Wait to see your kids’ surprised faces! A fun way to explore sound is via music. Kids will learn so much about sound features via music, such as pitch, frequency. Do you know sound wave is different from light wave? How to make your sound louder?

How can you smell? Does your mouth help when you smell? Try these 7 science experiments for kids to learn smell. Find out some fun ways to test every one’s sense of smell? Does every one smell the same smell? Does everyone like the same smell? Why? There are so many different ways to test the sense of smells, and they are all fun and easy.

There are tastes we like, and tastes we don’t like. Why can we taste? Can you tell the food taste holding your nose? Try some fun science activities to learn about taste, and find out how sensitive are you to different tastes. Do you know different parts of the tongue have different sensitivity to different taste? How can you find out through a science experiment?

The last is the sense of touch. Check out these 8 science experiments for kids to learn about sense of touch. One of my favorite is to find out my own Homunculus, the body map to show which part of my body is most and least sensitive to touch. Do you know that different parts of our body has different touch sensitivity? This is what Homunculus about. There is a simple but scientific way to find out. I am sure you and your kids would love to know about your body sensitivity or Homunculus, too. There are so many other concepts about the sense of touch and the sense of touch tells us so many attibutes of an object: shape, texture, size, weight, … Check out different science experiments testing different touch object attributes.

Teaching the Five Senses is an important part helping kids to learn about themselves and everything around them. Using science experiments teaching the five senses not only help kids have a more realistic understanding of the 5 senses, but also a scientific approach of exploration and learning that they will benefit from for a life time.

I hope you like these five senses activity ideas, teaching the 5 senses via science experiments. Doing science at home is not just for fun, it is also to cultivate child’s interest in science and help them grow scientific thinking skills. I encourage you follow the scientific steps while working with kids on these fun activities. I outlined the steps and developed this Science Experiment Recording Sheet. I highly recommend using it, even with young children. They can draw pictures if they can’t write. It is the process that is important, starting with questions and hypothesis.

How to teach kids about the 5 senses? These 45 science experiments not only teach kids about senses of touch, see, smell, taste, hear, but also scientific thinking and methodology - for kids from preschool, kindergarten, to high school. Fun STEM activities for classroom, homeschool, or after school supplements. Many are also great science fair project ideas.

Through out my search and research, I have found some wonderful children’s books about senses. They are great to read with kids while you are exploring the 5 senses:
My 5 Senses (age 4 to 8)
The 5 Senses (age 4 and up)
The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses (age 4 to 8)
The 5 Senses (age 6 to 12)
You Can’t Taste a Pickle with Your Ears (age 4 to 6)
Smelling (age 4 to 6)
I Smell Christmas (age 3 to 6)
The Nose Book (age 2 to 10)
The Listening Walk (age 4 to 8)
All about Light (age 5 and up)
Seeing (age 4 to 6)
The Very Lonely Firfly (age 2 to 3)
Tasting (age 4 to 6)
Touching (age 4 to 6)

You will also like 9 STEM Activities for Preschool Kids and 8 Science Experiments for Kids Using Salt
 
STEM activities for preschoolers and toddlers
kids science experiments with salt


{ 6 comments… add one }
  • TechyKids Canada

    These are some really interesting ideas for making learning fun for kids. I am sure kids would love them too, thanks for sharing!

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