The Five Senses!

Wow! I can't believe it!  Our last day of preschool has come and gone, 

and we had a lot of fun learning all about our FIVE SENSES!

We started the morning by doing a worksheet!  The kids practiced writing the numeral 5 and doing some counting activities.

They got a lot of practice by counting beads into groups of five and placing each group in a separate compartment of an ice cube tray! 

During calendar we looked at a picture of the First Vision and discussed how we have bodies just like Heavenly Father and Jesus.  

We also read this timely poem that the kids loved.  I had to (happily) read it twice:

School is Over

by Kate Greenaway

School is over,

Oh, what fun!

Lessons finished, 

Play begun.

Who'll run fastest, 

You or I?

Who'll laugh loudest?

Let us try.

For show and tell, the kids each brough in five of something.  Joseph brough five army men.  Delainey brought five pink paper clips.  And Max brough five puzzle pieces from his favorite Star Wars puzzle.

During music and movement, we moved our bodies alot!  We sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"(lots of times), "Hinges," "The Hokey Pokey," and the following song about our five senses, sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques"...

Five senses, five senses.

We have them. We have them.

Seeing, Hearing, Touching,

Tasting and Smelling.

There are five.  There are five.

We also sang this cute song, sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell."

I use my eyes to see.  I use my eyes to see.  

And when I want to see a star, I use my eyes to see.

I use my bnose to smell.  I use my nose to smell.

And when I want to smell a flower, I use my nose to smell.

I use my tongue to taste.  I use my tongue to taste.  

And when I want to taste a peach, I use my tongue to taste.

I use my ears to hear.  I use my ears to hear.

And when I want to hear a bird, I use my ears to hear.

I use my hands to touch.  I use my hands to touch.

And when I want to touch a cat, I use my hands to touch.

The kids had fun miming each acitivity!

Lastly, to finish up our movement we did the Dorothy the Dinosaur dance from The Wiggles video Hot Poppin' Popcorn that we happened to check out from the library.  

The boys loved the video, but Delainey was a little unsure.  :)

After we were nice and sweaty from movin' and groovin' so much, we settled down and read My five Senses by Aliki.  It was a really cute book and perfect for their age.  It discussed what each sense is, and how sometimes we use only one, but sometimes we use all five at once!  That was a perfect segway into our amazing, all-five-senses snack....POPCORN! 

While we made and ate our snack we used all five of our senses!

Hearing: We heard the kernels popping in the microwave.

Smelling: We could smell the popcorn cooking.

Seeing: We watched the bag get larger as more kernels popped.

Touching: We held the popcorn in our hands as we put it into our mouths.

Tasting: We ate it the popcorn.  Yum!

After our popcorn and lemonade, we headed back to the carpet squares to learn a little bit more about each of our five senses!

1. HEARING

We read a poem about many different sounds we've heard...a bell ringing, the wind blowing, a clock ticking, and a train whistle.  Then we used the good ol' Kindle Fire to play a sound game that the kids LOVED!  They had to listen carefully and guess what sounds they were hearing.  There were animal sounds, vehicle sounds, and even sounds from around the house.  All three got an A+ for their attentive listening skills!

2. SMELLING

The kids had 10 different covered cups filled with something smelly that they had to sniff and identify! There were: onions, vanilla, vinegar, cinnamon, rubbing alcohol, perfume, sun butter, lemon extract, peppermint extract, and a chunk of banana.  

3. SEEING

We were going to read a cute little I Spy book, but I guess Ms. Emily was too excited to make binoculars, becuase I totally forgot about the book! I showed the kids a (small toy pirate) telescope, my glasses, a magnifying glass, and some (small toy) binoculars.  We talked about how sometimes we need to use a tool to help us see better.  Then we made our own binoculars...

TASTING

We talked about our taste buds and the four different "tastes" they recognize.  The kids each got their own plate of food to sample...

Lemon Wedge: Sour

Pez Candy: Sweet

(Unsweetened) Cocoa Poweder: Bitter

Goldfish Crackers: Salty

TOUCHING:

The kids each made their own "texture collage" using little scraps of this and that from around the house.  There was tinfoil, sandpaper, cotton balls, flannel, grosgrain ribbon, a silky fabric, etc. 

As always, each child approached the project a different way... Joseph was slow and very methodical, gluing his scraps into lines.  Max was lightening fast and a little sloppy (that's my boy!) And Little Lainey was a happy balance between the the two boys!

After our texture collages were done, we returned to the carpet squares and did a quick five senses review together.  The kids aced it!  We had a lot of fun learning about our bodies and all of the amazing things it can do!