Understanding the five senses

Our senses are what we use to see what is out there in the world around us, where it is, to know if it is changing etc. This is one of the most important part of being alive, this feeling of being alive to everything around us, to react and interact with thing around us.

“Five Senses” by Nicki Dugan Pogue, licensed under CC BY SA 2.0

Like everything else in nature, our kids use their senses without our intervention. By our introducing them to sensory activities, we enhance their engagement with their senses. We must enthuse our kids about the world around us. They must understand that they share this planet with creatures of all hues, shapes and kinds. Just by dominating the planet, it does not mean that we are independent of others. Kids must be encouraged to get their hands dirty, to look around, to smell things, to hear things and taste a variety of things.

Here is a roundup of activities that get our kids to use their senses to wonder at the world around us–

1. Help kids listen to bird calls. Some wake up real early and others are rulers of the evening. Can they distinguish sounds without seeing the bird? A simpler exercise is to get the kids blindfolded and then talk from a short distance away. Can they recognize who is talking?
2. Lay out a variety of food – cooked rice, beans, diced tomatoes, cereal etc. With their eyes blindfolded, can they touch and tell what’s on the plate?
3. Can a kid smell food and recognize what’s getting prepared? Try frying garlic/onion, baking a cake, skinning an orange and cutting fresh vegetables – distinguishing smells can be a fun activity. Try smelling and identifying odd smells too.
4. Mute some program and see if the kids can recognize what the person is saying. This might be better for a slightly older child as lip reading might not be very easy.
5. Try closing one eye to see how depth perception changes
6. Let vibrating phones on surfaces teach a child how we can actually feel a sound!
7. Try this experiment to see how different parts of the body differ in feeling things.

So, go on and try these activities!