You can do this theme the following days after introducing the body.

The senses are a very important part of any person (or animal).  Most people can (1) touch; (2) hear; (3) see; (4) smell, and (5) taste.  There are many activities you can do with the five senses.  You can choose any game that uses the senses or use the ones listed on this page.   Make different Musical Instrument Crafts (drums, finger cymbals, shakers, tambourine, and trombone).  Play them.  Which senses are you using?

Sense #1: Touch (Somatosensation): The Hands

Action Verse/Fingerplay

Act out the following action verse using your hands.  Ask you children/students, what other body part opens and shuts?  (Your eyes.)  Do the verse with your eyes.

Open, Shut Them
Open, shut them.
Open, shut them.
Give a little clap.

Open, shut them
Open, shut them.
Put them in your lap.

Hands-on Activities
Goop
Play dough

Texture Activity
Have different objects and have the children feel different textures.  For example: two or more objects that are: rough, smooth, bumpy, sticky, slippery
Examples of:
rough (bumpy): sand paper, rocks, coins, wall or door, etc.
smooth: rock, door, taffeta fabric, counter top, etc.
sticky: tape, stickers, etc.
slippery: place a little bit of oil on a plate, etc.

Feeling Box
Make one hole big enough to fit your hand through a narrow box and to the other side.  Place different objects in a small container (e.g. noodles, etc.).  Place in an empty tissue box or small box to fit the container.  Have the child feel what it is and tell you what they think it is. 

Feeling Bag
Place various objects in different lunch sized paper bags.  For example, orange, apple, lemon, shoe, coin, facial tissue paper, etc.  Have the child feel what it is and tell you what they think it is.

Feel It
Place different objects in a container (e.g. rice, beans, sand, etc.).   Fill it with your hands.

Fabric Feel
Some fabrics have different textures (depending which way you move your hand across it).  For: smooth or ripped: corduroy fabric; and smooth or rough: velvet.
Purchase various types of fabric.  Let the child feel the fabric.

Activities
-Take off your shoes or place your hands in the following objects (mud, sand, rocks, rice, beans, etc.)

Arts & Crafts
Use sponges, fingers, cotton swaps, different types of cooked noodles, etc. to make a painting using paint, finger paint (or corn syrup finger paint), etc.  (Feeling and Seeing Senses)

Make hand and/or finger prints using paint.

Walk through mud or stick your bare feet into paint.  Place your feet onto a large piece of paper.

Other Touch Activities
Neouroscience for Kids - Touch Experiments (K-12)

Games
Duck, Duck, Goose

See Shadow Tag.

Sense #2: Hearing (Audition): The Ears

Books
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? or in Spanish Oso Polar, Oso Polar, Que Es Ese Ruido by Bill Martin Jr.

Music & Crafts
Make different Musical Instrument Crafts (drums, finger cymbals, shakers, tambourine, and trombone).  Play them.

Do Your Ears Hang Low @ NIEHS (words and music)
KIDiddles.com - Do Your Ears Hang Low (words only)

Sound Guessing Game
Have your children close their eyes. Have them guess what you were doing. Have them have a turn being the leader. Examples: Snap your fingers, clap your hands, whistle, stump your feet, hit a table or chair, turn a lamb on or off, type on the computer, play with blocks, turn the water on, crumble or rustle paper, open a door or cabinet, etc. You can also place something in a closed container and shake it. Have them guess what’s in the container. You could place rice or other things in it.

Red Light, Green Light Game and Prop
Simon Says
Red Rover

Sense #3: Sight/Seeing (Vision) - The Eyes / Eye Theme

Books
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  or Spanish: Oso Pardo, oso pardo, que ves ahi? by Bill Martin Jr.
I Can See with My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss

Hide and Seek
Have one person (or more) hide and be quiet while hiding.  The other person(s) need to cover their eyes, count to 10, say "Ready or not, here I come!", and then go find the person.  Once the person has been found, someone else hides.

Follow the Leader
Have the child do the actions of another child or you.  For example, clap your hands, stomp your feet, etc.

Music & Activity
LDS Church Music: "Do As I'm Doing"  Have the child do the actions that you or another child does.  Listen to what the words say to do ("high or low", "fast or slow").

Shadow Tag
Discuss the opposites: long and short and show examples with the shadows.  Now, have each child pair up into partners and they can chase their partners shadow.  When they have caught their partners shadow, they step on their partners shadow and they can say, "I got it", "I got your shadow", "You're it!", "You're turn!", etc.)  Let the next partner do it.

Shadows
Have the children make different animals or shapes (or just move their hands around).  Have them make their shadows between a lamp and a light colored wall (or door) or outside.

To make a butterfly by placing their thumbs together and move their other fingers like the wings of a butterfly.  (Younger children may not understand how to do it so let them do it however they like.  It may not  look like a butterfly to you but it is to them.

Shadow Links
Ashley's Hand Shadows
Snail, Panther, Dog, Turkey, Goose, Bird, Cardinal, Rabbit, and Kangaroo

Shadows - Hand shadows @ The Bill Douglas Centre
Spider, bull, rooster, elephant, American Indian

Art
Painting (See above.)

Binoculars Craft
2 pieces of 4 1/2 x 6 inches construction paper (or just use the toilet paper rolls)
2 empty toilet paper rolls
If using construction paper, glue or tape them onto each toilet paper rolls.  Staple them together at both ends and in the middle. Decorate.  Look through your binoculars inside or outside.

Camera Craft
Make a camera using a small rectangular box or small animal cracker box.  For the lens, glue a piece of felt, fabric, or cardboard on the front center of the box.  You can even use a lid from a plastic milk container (you will need to use a glue that will hold.)  For the button, glue on the top right hand side a small round sew-on velcro or a piece of cloth.  For the eyepiece, cut a hole (big enough to see through) from a Pop Tart or from another piece of cardboard.  Tape this to the top left hand side of the box where the tap is.  Tape the openings of the box so it is more stable.  Let the glue dry.  If you want, you can have your children color their camera.  Have your children have fun by pretending to take pictures.

Red Light, Green Light Game and Prop

Sense #4: Smelling (Olfaction) - The Nose

Activity
Smell different types of food, extracts, candy, products, etc.
You can place them inside a small paper bag and have the children guess what it is.

Sense #5: Tasting (Gustation) - The Mouth

Place edible cooking products into a small container.  Place some onto the childs hand.  Have the child taste it and tell which one it is.  For example, cinnamon and cocoa powder, sugar and salt, etc.

Cut up foods that look similar.  For example, a pear and an apple. Have the child taste it, and tell you what he/she thinks it is.  Discuss how they taste.

Place different foods into a paper bag. Have the child close his/her eyes, take it out of the bag, taste it, and tell you what he/she thinks it is.

Smelling and Taste sense can be combined together.  You can have the child smell different foods, extracts, candy and then taste the food.

You can make different food items or snacks.  For example, go to: The ABC's of Snacking, Food Theme, or any of my recipe pages (The Pratt Family Cookbook or Dairy-Free Cookbook) for ideas to help explore "The Five Senses".

Math and Hand & Eye Coordination Activities

Pasta Necklace or Braclet
Tape the ends of a piece of yarn (or use a plastic needle).  Use uncolored pasta or colored pasta that has a large opening.  (For pre-schoolers, use pasta with a very large opening.)  Math: Make a pattern using different colored pastas.  Tie the ends off.

All My Senses Activity

Edible Necklace or Braclet
A quick and fun snack that involves all of the five senses is making an edible necklace or braclet.  This can also lead into a math lesson of patterns.

Tape the ends of a piece of yarn or use a plastic needle (especially for pre-schoolers).  Also, you can use a pipe cleaner (chenille stem) and make a braclet instead (great for pre-schoolers).  Have the child place ring cold cereal onto it.  Math: Make a pattern using different colored cereals.  For the yarn: tie the ends off.  For the pipe cleaner: trim, wrap it around the ends, and tape together (so the metal part does not hurt the child).  Enjoy.

Note: Check for food restrictions.

Sight & Touch Center
Have different textured objects in an open container. Have the child pick up the object and feel it.

Hearing, Sight, & Touch Center
Have different items in black film canisters, margarine containers, or other containers. Some items can include: pennies, macaroni, cereal, and rice. The child will guess what is in each container (if old enough to understand). Have the child shake the container.  Have the child carefully open the container and look in it.  Let the child feel it.

Touch & Sight Center
Have many objects placed in a box. Have the child place a hand in the box and try to guess what he/she is feeling. Have different objects that may include any of the following: piece of yarn, rock, pine cone, rubber band, seashell, stick, bird's feather, piece of ribbon, etc.  Have the child take it out and look at it.

Touch and Sight Center

For younger children: Go to the center and smell the object.  Tell the child if it had a smell (or not).  Drop one of the objects into the water.  Ask the child if they know what that object just did.  Tell him/her it sunk (or it floated).  Have the child do it.  You can have the child predict what will happen (if they are old enough to understand; otherwise let them explore and have fun).  (Ask the child if he/she heard something.)

Have objects that may include any of the following: rubber band, rock, eraser, film canister, paper clip, pine cone, etc.

   Have the child predict what will happen to each object when it is placed in a container of water (if it will sink or float). (Write the prediction on the paper.)
   Have the child touch each item, place it in the water, and see what happens.  (Write the result on the paper.)
   Have the child listen for a sound it makes (if any.)

Have something that looks somewhat like the below on a piece of paper.  Omit certain parts if you don't use all the senses listed above.
For younger children, place pictures of the different senses.  For the "Will not" senses, place a line across it.

Label the page: Sink and Float Experiment

On the top of the page, type this (and add other objects).

My Prediction

Object               |  It Will Sink  |  It Will Float  |  It Sunk  -  It Floated  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rubber band       |                   |                    |                             |                                   

The Five Senses Center (Smell/Sight/Touch/Taste/Hear)
Have different types of food in different plastic bags inside small lunch bags.  Number each bag.  Have the child predict what it is.  Have them write (or draw) what the think it is on a numbered piece of paper.  Have the child look in the bag and check if his/her prediction was correct.  Have the child taste each food.  Have the child mark on the piece of paper if they heard a noise when they tasted the food.

For younger children: Have the child smell what is in the bag, look at the food, take the food out of the bag, taste the food, and listen for a sound as they eat it.

Note: Make sure to check to find out from parents if any child is unable to eat any of the foods you will put in the bag.

Objective: The students will create a class poem (choose a holiday.)

Anticipatory Set: What are our five senses? Today we are going to write a poem about (choose a holiday).

Activities:

1. Brainstorm using the five senses.

I see ______, ______, ______.

I hear ______, ______, ______.

I smell ______, ______, ______.

I feel ______, ______, ______.

I touch ______, ______, ______.

2. Make the poem as a class.

3. Have the students go back to their seats and copy the poem on De'Nealian paper.

4. Have the students color, cut and glue the poem a pattern for the holiday.

Evaluation: Monitor the students to make sure they are following directions you gave them.