The

Five Senses
Michelle Murphy

OVERVIEW:
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce preschool students to the Five
Senses that we as humans have. This will be presented and accomplished by the
students actively involving themselves daily in the use of these senses and being
aware of what senses they are using at all times.

This lesson will help preschoolers become aware of the fact that they have
five senses. It will also teach them to understand what each sense is and show them
what information they gain from using each sense they have. Through the use of
many hands-on art projects, YouTube.com videos and songs, computer games, listen
and watch books provided by Education.com, taste tests and games, the students
will become fully aware of what their five senses are. They will also discover what
part of the body they use and what these senses do for them on a daily basis.

GOAL:

The goal of this lesson is to introduce and teach preschool students about
their five senses and teach them what their five senses do for them every day. It will
give them many opportunities for hands-on experience. Using various types of
experiences with many different types of media and technology to give them
multiple opportunities and methods to reach each students best learning style.

While preschool is full of hands-on experience, this lesson will integrate the
use of multiple forms of technology appropriate for 3-5 year old students and will
also help to meet the standards of technology expected for preschool students.
While teaching the five senses and how they help the students, it will also help them
to work developmentally appropriate digital tools, interact with Internet based
resources, and use some digital tools to reinforce their learning. This technology
use will also help students increase their confidence when it comes to future use of
technology when in the classroom or outside of the classroom.

GRADE LEVEL:

This lesson is designed for Preschool students who attend school Monday-
Thursday weekly.

TIME:

This lesson implements five, 15 minute centers each day, that rotate taking
approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes (when adding time for center rotation) There
are lessons for each of the four days of class in one school week.

RESOURCES:
*4 tables with room for a maximum of 4 students at a time.
*1 media area with 4 I Pads, 4 sets of headphones
*16 pieces of Orange construction paper, with the shape of a pumpkin drawn on it
*16 rectangles cut out of orange construction paper for pumpkin stems

*four pairs of scissors

*white glue
*water
*pumpkin pie spice
*4 paint brushes
*locate book Five For A Little One by Chris Raschka
*4 I Pads
*4 red apples cut into 4 slices each
*4 green apples cut into 4 slices each
*4 yellow apples cut into 4 slices each
*Chart with one red apple, one green apple, and one yellow apple at the bottom
*16 small uncolored paper apples that students can color when they decide their
favorite kind of apple
*hot water
*Epsom salt
*16 pieces of blue construction paper
*crayons
*4- 35 mm film canisters with pinholes poked in the lids
*1 lemon
*1 orange
*1 onion
*cinnamon spice
*Internet access to YouTube
*Internet access to Education.com
*16 small plates
*Cocoa powder
*16 pieces of skittles candy
*1 bag of potato chips
*4 lemons sliced into wedges
*water beads
*4 small bowls
*1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
*2 packages strawberry Kool Aid
*1 cup flour
*1/4 cup salt
*5 teaspoons cream of tartar
*locate book Hooray For Hoppy! By Tim Hopgood
*4 pretend cell phones
*Internet access to Bone Catcher on I pads on Education.com
*3 different flavors of ice cream
*48 bathroom sized disposable cups
*16 disposable spoons
*ice cream scooper
*premade chart for each student with Smell Taste and Actual Flavor written
along the top and the numbers 1, 2 and 3 down the side of the chart.
*Crayons with no wrapper on the outside

*16 pieces of white printer paper

*assortment of leaves
* 2 cans of shaving cream
* food coloring
*4 straws
*16 pieces of white construction paper
*access to Internet and YouTube for The Five Senses Song by Maryam Alatawne
*access to Internet and YouTube for The Dr. Binocs Show/ Learn Series for Kids
*Air popcorn popper
*popcorn kernels
*16 small plates or bowls
*five empty square tissue boxes
*a handful of cotton balls
*water beads and water to be added
*matchbox-sized racecar
*a half box of uncooked macaroni noodles
*5 Twizzler sticks peeled apart
*digital overhead projector
*classroom computer

MI STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS:
I.
PK-2.CI.1. use a variety of digital tools (e.g., word processors, drawing
tools, simulations, presentation software, graphical organizers) to
learn, create, and convey original ideas or illustrate concepts.
II.
PK.2.CC.2. use a variety of developmentally appropriate digital tools
(e.g., word processors, paint programs) to communicate ideas to
classmates, families , and others.
III.
PK-2.TC.2. be able to use basic menu commands to perform common
operations (e.g. open, close, save, print)

OBJECTIVES:
I.
Students will become aware of the five senses that they each have.
II.
Students, through hands-on activities, will explore their sense of smell
and match what part of their body that sense requires.
III.
Students will explore their sense of hearing through read text, audio
books, and YouTube song videos. Students will be able to say what part of
the body is associated with their sense of hearing.
IV.
Students will build on their knowledge of the sense of sight through the
use of listen and watch books, video games, and short videos. They will
be able to identify which body part is needed for their sense of sight.
V.
Students will manipulate many hands-on experiences to explore their
sense of taste. They will be able to identify what part of the body is used
for their sense of taste.
VI.
Students will explore their sense of touch by performing hands-on
activities and manipulating items with many different textures. Students

will be able to identify what body parts they most use for the sense of
touch.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN:

The class will consist of 16 preschool students. The classroom will be split
into five stations for groups of 3 (one group will have 4 if all students are present).
Each day will have 5 centers for the students to visit for 15 minutes each. The 5
stations will represent the five senses.

Monday:
Their will be Scented Pumpkin art at Center #1, The smell station. Here
Students will make a scented pumpkin that I found at
www.education.com/activity/article/make-scentedpumpkins. Students will cut out
the pumpkin shapes that were traced on the orange construction paper. Glue the
green stem rectangles to the top of the pumpkin. Use a mixture of equal parts white
glue and water, and stir this together. When well mixed and smooth, add pumpkin
pie spice liberally and stir in. This will require adult help and guidance while also
encouraging the students to smell the pumpkin scent. Allow the children to take a
paintbrush and brush the glue mixture over their pumpkin shape and allow to dry
completely. When finished the pumpkin will appear shiny with a rough texture and
a great pumpkin Smell.

Center #2 will be the hearing center. Students will gather and listen to the
Audio book Five For A Little One by Chris Raschka. Each student will place headsets
over their ears and listen to this story being read to them through the CD player in
the hearing station.

Center #3 will be the seeing center and will take place at a table with four
I Pads with internet access. Each student will have their own I Pad and play a
hands-on game found on Education.com called Spot the Swans. Students will need
to visually spot the difference between the ducks and the swans on the lake. This
game is visually appealing and works on sorting and hand-eye coordination.
Students will also be responsible for opening and closing this app.

Center #4 will have 3-4 students at a time with slices of three types of apple:
one red, one green and one yellow. Each student should taste each of the three
different types of apple, one at a time. After tasting all three slices, the students
should decide which type of apple they liked the best. They will then take one of the
small paper apples and color it to match the color of the apple they liked the best.
After coloring their apple red, green or yellow, they will tape it to the chart provided
(which has the three colors of apples along the bottom) above the color they chose
as their favorite. After each student has a chance to tape their colored apple to the
chart they can talk about what type of apple was the class favorite.

Center #5 will be the touch station. The students will be making a Salt Art
Project that I found on Education.com. This center will have 3-4 students at a time.
Prior to the class, you will need to take cup of hot water and add 4 Tablespoons of
Epsom Salt and stir. Each student will need a piece of construction paper and a

paintbrush and crayons. Allow the students time to draw on their construction
paper with the crayons. Next they will brush the entire paper with the salt mixture.
Allow the paper time to dry completely. The water will evaporate, but the salt will
remain on the paper and leave a rough and bumpy texture for the students to
explore their sense of touch.

Tuesday:

I found an idea for sniffing jars for Center #1 on Education.com. You will
need 4 jars and lids with the outside wrapped in paper so the students cannot see
what is inside the jars. Place one slice of onion in the first jar, one slice of orange in
the second jar, some cinnamon spice in the third jar and a flower in the fourth jar.
Take pictures found on the internet of each a flower, an onion, cinnamon and an
orange and put them on cardstock paper to create a picture card for the students to
match the scent they smell with the picture of what they think is inside the jar.

The hearing station will be Center #2 and will need 4 I Pads and headphones
for each. At this station, the students will watch and listen to The Five Senses Song
found at Silly School Songs on YouTube.com. The students should push play on their
own.

Center #3 will be the sense of sight station. You will need the classroom
computer and a digital overhead projector, access to the Internet and the
Education.com website. Here you will find, Goldilocks and the Three Bears Listen
and watch book. Have the students watch the book and then discuss what they saw
and what they liked about this book in their small group.

The sense of taste will be tested at Center #4. You will need 16 dessert sized
paper plates, cocoa powder, a bag of skittles, a bag of potato chips and lemons sliced
into 16 small wedges. This will need to take place at a table where 3-4 students can
sit at one time. Give each child a small paper plate with a small sample of each of the
cocoa powder, a skittle, a lemon wedge, and a potato chip. Have them taste all four
items and decide which is bitter, which is sweet, which is salty and which is sour.

Center #5 will be using the students sense of touch. You will need a packet
of water beads and water. These beads will need to be soaked in the water on
Monday night so they are ready to be used on Tuesday. You will need to have four
small bowls and the beads need to be divided up and placed in these bowls for the 3-
4 students at this station. While sitting at a table, have the children manipulate the
beads through their hands. The students should talk and share what they feel when
they play with these water beads.

Wednesday:

On Food.com I found a recipe for scented playdough. It will need to be made
at home the night before it will be used. It requires a cooking pot, 1 cup of cold
water, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, 2 packages of unsweetened Koolaid, 1 cup of
flour, cup of salt and 5 teaspoons of cream of tartar. In a pot combine the water,
oil, Koolaid, and salt and stir until the salt dissolves. Add the flour and cream of
tartar and cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until it is all well mixed
and forms a ball in the pan. Remove the ball from the heat and place the ball on a
clean baking sheet. Knead the playdough when it is cool enough for you to handle it

and let it cool completely before letting children play with it. At Center #1 you will
need a table able to sit up to 4 students. Let the students manipulate the playdough
and see if the can guess what the mixture smells like.

Center #2 will be the hearing station and will require the book Horray for
Hoppy! By Tim Hopgood. Read the book to the students while they are sitting on the
classroom carpet. After reading the book, ask the students questions about what
they heard. Have them each take a pretend cell phone and call someone they know
and share what they heard and liked about the story.

Center #3 will demonstrate the students sense of sight. You will need 4
I Pads with Internet access to Education.com and the game Bone Catcher all at a
table that will fit up to four students. Allow them to play the game freely, trying to
keep the bone away from the dog as long as possible. This game will use their sense
of sight while also help them with fine motor skills. This activity will also give them
added practice with manipulating the Ipad and starting an app.

For the sense of taste at center #4 I found a taste test at
www.notimeforflashcards.com . It is called the 5 Senses ice cream taste test. You
will need three different flavors of ice cream (Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry), 48
bathroom cups and 16 spoons. You will need to construct a chart with the words
Smell, Taste and actual flavor written across the top and have the numbers 1, 2 & 3
going down the side of the paper. Make 16 copies of this chart and hand one to each
student sitting at this station. Their will be 3-4 students at this center at a time.
Without the students seeing the label on the ice cream, scoop 1 scoop of each
different flavor into a small bathroom cup. Give each child a cup of one of each of
the three flavors, with a spoon, and have them smell each cup first to see if they can
predict the flavor of the ice cream. Write their smell prediction on their chart. Next
have them taste each flavor of ice cream, one at a time. Record their guess, after
tasting, to the chart and see if their prediction changed. Finally, share with the
student what the actual flavors were and record that on their chart. See how many
flavors the students got right.

For Center #5 we will need an assortment of leaves, 16 pieces of printer
paper and crayons with no wrappers on the outside. To explore the sense of touch,
you will need a table that will seat 3-4 students. This activity will explore their sense
of touch. Have each student pick a leaf and place it under their piece of printer
paper. Have them rub their hand over the paper to feel the leaf under the paper.
Next, have them rub the side of a crayon over the paper with the leaf under it and
they will see the shape of the leaf appear on their paper.

Thursday:

While on Pinterest, I found an idea for shaving cream art for the sense of
smell at Center #1. The website http://stayathomeeducator.com/four-
activitiestolearnaboutthesenseoftouch shares that if you have two cans of shaving
cream and food coloring, you will have a room full of the scent of shaving cream. It
will also create an art piece that students can take home that also has the scent. You
will need a table that can sit 3-4 students at a time with 16 pieces of white
construction paper, 2 cans of shaving cream, food coloring and 4 straws. Place a pile
of shaving cream on the table in front of each of the four students. Add a few drops

of two different food colors. Have the students drag a straw through the food colors
and shave cream to pull them through the shaving cream. When they are finished
mixing the shaving cream, have them place one sheet of white construction paper
over their pile of shaving cream and press down. Lift the paper up and allow to dry.
It will form a colorful scented piece of art with texture.

Center #2 will require 4 I Pads with 4 sets of headphones with access to the
Internet and the video song The Five Senses Song by Maryam Alatawne on
YouTube.com. Find this YouTube video on each of the I Pads and have the students
place the headphones on their heads and push play to listen and watch the video.

The sense of sight will be explored at center #3. For this station you will
need the classroom computer and a digital overhead projector. On the computer, go
to www.YouTube.com/watch?v=q1xNuU7gaAQ . Play this short video for groups of
four on the movie screen in the classroom.

Center #4 will explore using popcorn to describe the students sense of taste.
You will need an air popcorn popper and popcorn kernels. Make some popcorn in
the popper and have the students first describe what they smell. Next have them eat
some of the popcorn and describe what they taste. You can also go on and talk
about what they heard while it was popping, what the popcorn feels like and what
the popcorn looks like.

For center #5 you will need four emptied tissue boxes to help explore the
sense of touch. In one box place a handful of cotton balls, in the second empty box
place a half box of uncooked macaroni noodles, in the third empty box place a small
matchbox car and in the final box place two Twizzler candies pulled apart. Have the
students take turns putting a hand in each box describing what they feel and
guessing what is inside the box. After all students have taken a turn, share what is
inside each box and show them exactly what they were feeling.

REFERENCES:
www.education.com/activity/article/make-scentedpumpkinss.
www.education.com/activity/saltpainting.
www.education.com/games/bone-catcher
www.education.com/goldilock-three-bears
www.education.com/spot-swans.
www.education.com/science-fair/article/exploringthesenseofsmell
www.food.com/recipe/kool-aid-scented-play-dough
www.nottimeforflashcards.com
https://www.pinterest.com
http://stayathomeeducator.com/four-activitiestolearnaboutthesenseoftouch
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtwV9Mi_aNk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tTKLE72fJI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA1uLc1uEbl.