Books: Students can read these books before or after they do the activities. However, they will get a better understanding of the 5 senses if they read them before. The books could also be read as a class before putting this investigation box out.
This book is for beginning readers. It explains what each of the 5 senses are and what they are used for. It also has great illustrations to enhance children's learning. The book also suggests some activities to do.
This book uses humor to help students learn about their 5 senses. However, even though it is funny, it is scientifically accurate and has been fact-checked with a science educator. Students will come away from this book with most, if not all, of their questions about the 5 senses answered.
This is another informative text that helps students learn about their 5 senses. It is suited more for higher elementary age students, however, it can be read on a 1st or 2nd grade level.
Activity 1: Touch – What’s in the sock?
In this activity, there will be 5 numbered socks with different materials in each. The students will be feeling the object in the sock from the outside of the sock to try and figure out what’s inside. They will draw their predictions inside a picture of the sock with the same number as the sock they were feeling. Once they have something drawn for all 5, they pull out the objects and place them next to their drawing to compare what they look like.
Activity 2: Sight – Name that color
Students will be looking through toilet paper rolls with colored cellophane rubber-banded over one end of the tube. As the student looks through the tube, they will be looking around the room at different colored objects to see if the color changes when you look at it with colored cellophane. They will be recording what they find on a recording sheet.
Activity 3: Sight – What’s missing?
In this activity there will be a tray with 10 common objects in it. Students will have to work in pairs or a small group for this one. One student (or everyone in the group except one person) will look at the tray for 10 seconds. They will close their eyes or turn around and the student, who was picked to pull something out, will pull off one of the 10 objects to see if anyone can remember what’s missing. Each student will have an opportunity to pull something off the tray.
Activity 4: Hearing – Match that sound
There will be small objects (pins, paper clips, rice, buttons, etc.) placed in pairs of numbered empty film canisters. Students will be shaking them, listening to the sound and trying to match them with the other canister that makes that same sound. They will be writing their predictions on a recording sheet and then opening the canisters to see if they got them right, after they have predicted all of them.
Activity 5: Hearing – Making rice dance
In this activity, students will be talking into one end of a PVC elbow. At the other end, a rubber band will be used to attach a thin piece of rubber (a piece of a balloon or a rubber glove). Students will put a few pieces of rice on the tout piece of rubber. When they talk into the open end, they will be able to see the rice dance to what they are saying. The vibrations of your voice are what make the rice dance. The louder you talk, the better the rice jumps.
Activity 6: Smell – What’s that smell?
For this activity, there will be some kind of scent enhanced by wet cotton balls sprinkled with the different scents in 5 small, numbered containers with holes on the top. Students will smell the containers and try to guess what that smell is and write their predictions on a recording sheet. After they have guessed each one, they will open the container to see if they guessed correctly. You could also make double of each smell and have the students try to match the scents.
Activity 7: Smell, Taste, and Sight – Jelly Bean Jumble
In 3 different bags, there will be different colored jelly beans (bag 1 might be all yellow, bag 2 all red…). The students will either be blindfolded or trusted that they will close their eyes, pull out a jellybean from the bag, put it in their mouths, hold their nose shut and chew the jellybean without smelling or seeing it. They will then record what color jellybean they think it is on the recording sheet. Next, they will pull out another jellybean from the same bag (with their eyes shut) and this time taste the jellybean without holding their nose shut, and still not able to see. Again, they will mark their prediction on what they think the color of the jellybean is on the recording sheet. Then they will look inside the bag to see what color it actually was and record the correct answer. They will do the same for the other 2 bags.
Activity 8: Taste – What fruit is this?
For this activity, students will taste an apple and a pear that have been cut up so they can’t tell which is which yet. They will write down the differences between the two (using texture, taste, etc.) and try to figure out which is which. The fruit will be numbered (on a napkin or paper towel) and the students will write their descriptions under that number on their paper. They will find out which is which by flipping up the bottom part of the paper towel (the answer will be written there).
Additional Resources:
21 Five Senses Activities: This website gives 21 activities to do with the 5 senses.
Facts about the Senses: This website has facts about each of the 5 senses. It uses big words that kids wouldn't know, however, if you put your cursor on the word, it gives a kid-friendly definition. It does have a lot of information, but as I said, it is kid-friendly.
