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Background

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Our five senses are the greatest tool a scientist has in the field.  We can use our sense of smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch to discover and explore the natural world.  Each of these senses brings a different level of observation and therefore knowledge of what is being studied.  

This activity can be done as a whole class, pairs, or small cooperative groups.  It should be easy to adapt to any classroom structure.

Vocabulary

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Say each word and have students act out the meaning or experience different textures. Go over the 5 senses as per the “Attention Grabber” below.

observation: a fact that is based on information gathered
texture: how an object feels (e.g., soft, smooth, rough, bumpy)
sense:  a power that a human or animal has to experience its surroundings; includes sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.
 

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Attention Grabber

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Have a couple of pieces of mint available for students to observe. Any small, smelly (good smelling), edible object can work. Briefly introduce the sense you’re going to use before each observation. Ask students to close their eyes and keep them closed until you tell them they can open their eyes. They may need reminding to keep their eyes closed throughout the activity. Have students pass the mint around and smell it first. Have them share a word about the way it smells if they’d like. You can use two pieces of mint passed in opposite directions to help this go more quickly. Next, have students focus on feeling the leaf. Ask if they can describe how it feels. After, ask the students if they can quietly listen. Have the students make cups around their ears, like deer ears. Does the leaf make a sound? Did you hear anything while we were listening? Students can share what they heard. Next, students can open their eyes and use them to look at the piece of mint. Have students share what it looks like to their neighbor. Lastly, give each student a small piece of mint (one that hasn’t been touched by their hands). You may want to model eating the piece of mint to help encourage students. What does it taste like? This green, smooth, smelly leaf is called mint. We just observed the mint, just like a scientist (refer to picture from previous lesson) using our 5 senses. Can you say the word “5 senses”? Our 5 senses are: our sense of sight, sense of sound, sense of smell, sense of touch, and sense of taste. Have students repeat after you and touch the body part associated with that sense.

Discuss with students that many people rely on their sense of sight to do most activities in life.  When we take away one of these senses (like sight), we need to rely on our other senses to help us navigate through the world.  

Garden Activity   

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Part 1

• Review the five senses with the group.  Use the pictorial cards of the 5 senses  included in the appendix and hang them on the wall. Spend as much time on each sense as you feel necessary. You may want to split each sense up into different garden experiences.
• In the garden students will use the five senses to experience common objects.
  
  Sight: flowers, veggies, fruits, decorations, and animals
  Give the students color cards. Ask them to find an object in the garden (or outdoor space with set parameters) that is the same color. If you do not want students to pick the objects, ask them to raise their hand when they have found the object and you can go and check it. Depending on how much time you’d like to spend, you can give the students more color cards to match.
  
  Smell: herbs – many of the herbs are fragrant and liked by the students
  Introduce students to some herbs. Have students close their eyes when they smell. Good examples include: mints, lavender, and rosemary. Have students pick some of the plants they like (be specific about how much they can pick). Once they collect their herbs, they can put it in the middle of their cloth and you can help them tie the string on top. Note: It may be helpful to have some parent volunteers for this activity. Have students share how it smells to them. Does it remind them of anything?
  
  Taste: anything!  rhubarb, fennel, edible flowers, peas, etc.
  Try tasting with their nose pinched closed too!  The sense of taste and smell are connected!  They do not work well on their own!     
  
  Hearing:  birds, bees, squirrels v. cars, planes, people
  Remind students that it is important to keep their bodies still while they are listening. After 15 seconds of quiet listening time, have students share one sound they heard. Give examples of “natural” sounds and “man-made” sounds. Listen for another 10-15 seconds. During this time, have students raise their hand when they hear a “natural” sound and touch their head when they hear a “man-made” sound. Have students share one sound they heard with the group.
  
  Touch: Have students feel something that is rough (sandpaper), bumpy (a closed pine cone), smooth (a stone), and soft (lamb’s ear). Keep these objects with the words in a “Touch” station in the classroom. Have students say the word while they are feeling the object. Have partners go into the garden and find something that is smooth, bumpy, soft, and rough. Give them one category at a time and have them share it with you before they move on. Have groups share with other students the objects found for each category. Model how to show their findings.
   

Part 2

• After taking a FIVE Senses walk around the garden have each student choose one object and describe it using as many of their five senses as they can (be sure that what they choose is SAFE!!!)  Have students orally share with the class their observations (this can also be done in pairs).Use these objects from the garden that the students choose (e.g., leaf, stone, bark, etc.).  The teacher will first sort them into groups by color.  Have students guess what characteristic was used to sort the objects.  The teacher may say “What is the same about all of these objects?” while pointing at one of the groups.   Do this again with another physical attribute (e.g., color, shape, texture, size, weight)
• Now have students compare and sort the objects by a different physical attribute still using the class’s objects.  This can be done by an individual student or as a cooperative class.   
• Choose one object and have students guess what it is by describing the object. Include color, size, and texture. Model this a few times for students, then break them into groups and see if they are able to describe and guess familiar objects to each other.

Wrap Up

• Review the 5 senses.
• Review ways that we can describe particular objects students found in the garden on their search. Give student an example of an object to help them.
• In a science journal, have students draw some of the object sorts they created.
   

What’s Next?

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• At home, encourage students to take a five senses walk in their OWN neighborhood.  Encourage them to describe what they discover with their grownup.

Download Materials

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Lesson Materials
Five Senses Pictorial

Student Worksheets
Five Senses Color Cards