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One of my favorite preschool themes is definitely the Five Senses. Teaching kids about the five senses works well for kindergarten, too. There are so many activities you can do with your little ones to explore the five senses, so today I’m going to share some fun five senses printables and activities!
Five Senses Worksheets
Are you looking for five senses worksheets? I’ve created five senses printables that you can turn into an activity book to teach your kids all about the five senses.
Our five senses printables include 12 pages of pdf files and activities that allow kids to explore their five senses. You’ll find sorting activities for sound, smell, and sight, as well as a touch match-up page and a taste tests page.
Get Your Five Senses Printables here!
Five Senses Activities
Now let’s talk about a fun way to plan a five senses unit with some tactile activities that are perfect for your kindergarten kid or even for a preschooler!
Five Senses Theme
Before I even begin teaching individual senses to my kids, I start out by naming different body parts and what sense they provide for us.
For example, eyes give us sight, ears allow us to hear, our hands and skin allows us to feel, our tongue allows us to taste, and our nose allows us to smell.
Then, we move into some activities that allow us to explore all of our senses. One of my favorite five senses activity is the Five Senses Popcorn Activity that we did when we did the Us unit in My Father’s World kindergarten.
Another great way to help your kids use all of their five senses is to go on a nature walk. I do have a free download available in my shop that you can use: Nature Walk Activity Sheet.
Sense of Touch
Sense of touch is always a fun sense to teach. Here are some simple activities to help you teach it!
- Touch and Feel Box – For this activity simply use an old cardboard box. Cut out a small hole that the child can put their hand through, and place different objects in the box. Choose soft, hard, smooth, and rough items. Let the child guess what each object is that they are feeling. Try adding some of their favorite things that they are familiar with.
- Water Beads – Water beads are so fun to play with! We have especially enjoyed using them to make sensory bins.
- Shaving Cream Art – Who doesn’t love playing with shaving cream?
- Mud Play – I know, I know, it’s messy, but it’s also a childhood rite of passage. Let the kids play in muddy puddles.
- Leaf Rubbings – Gather some fallen leaves, remove the paper from crayons, place the leaf under a sheet of paper, and let your child rub the the paper over the leaf with the crayon. They’ll become aware of the texture of the leaf!
- Touch and Feel Books – We absolutely love Touch and Feel books.
- Clay, Slime, or Playdough – Another messy activity, but so fun for kids.
Sense of Smell
Our sense of smell is so important, yet many kids don’t realize just how important it is! Here are some fun activities to help you teach the sense of smell.
- DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles – This is an inexpensive, but fun game!
- Spiced Name Activity – This looks like a fun way to combine both the sense of smell and touch!
- Guess That Scent Game – Another fun way to let your child explore different scents!
- Scratch and Sniff Name Art – Try this fun activity to create your own scratch and sniff fun!
Sense of Taste
Our sense of taste is so fun to explore! Here are some fun activities to help you teach the sense of taste!
- Preschool Taste Test – Try this fun game using a muffin tin!
- What Flavor Is It? – Use jelly bean to help your child figure out different flavors.
- Lemon Food Taste Test – Try various foods with the flavor of “lemon” and see how they compare.
- Apple Taste Test – This is super fun, too! Try different apples and compare the flavors.
Sense of Sound
Let’s explore several different activities to help you teach the sense of sound!
- Silent or Loud Game – See how different things sound with this fun game.
- Pop Rocks – Pop Rocks are so fun. Try some of these preschool science experiments with this unique candy.
- Listening Walk – Go on a listening walk with your little ones and see what you can hear.
- Sound Waves – Try some of these activities to learn about sound waves.
Sense of Sight
Finally, we all know how important our sense of sight is. Try some of these awesome sense of sight activities with your preschooler or kindergartner! I also really like the sorting activity on the sense of sight worksheet in our activity pack!
- Kaleidoscope – Kaleidoscopes are so fun. Learn how to make your own!
- Colored Water Absorption Activity – You’ll need some clear glass of water, food coloring, and paper towels. Simply color the water in your glasses and place the end of a rolled up paper towel in each glass. Watch the paper towel absorb the colored water!
- Paper Strip Rainbows – These are so fun to make!
- Fruit Loop Rainbow Craft – We made this one, too!
Don’t forget to grab your Five Senses worksheets!
