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We had so much fun exploring the world with these five senses activities. I was just planning on some light reading and taking the oldest to a class, but something about the senses sparked my kindergartner’s interest. It turned into a full unit.

Read on to find activities, books, free printables, and media resources all about the five senses!

Exploring the Five Senses (and a few more), activities and resources for a kindergarten unit

The few more… I made the mistake of mentioning that we don’t ONLY have five senses. So we explored a few more – like sense of balance, hunger and thirst, and direction.

Every time we saw something that said “5 senses” he’s give me a little wink-wink, nudge-nudge meaning, “Yeah but WE know there are more than five, right mom? Riiiiiiight?” He thinks he’s so smart.

Five Senses Activities, Hands-on Exploration, and Big Juicy Conversations

We do a lot of talking, my five year old and I. Mostly it’s knock-knock jokes and requests for snacks, but over the month we did get a lot of chances to talk about our senses as we used them.

The activities sparked a few big juicy conversations, and as I introduced new material bit-by-bit I could hear him processing and making connections.

Try some of the following activities at home, and see what kind of conversations they spark. These activities will help your child develop new vocabulary to use in day-to-day life. Encourage that by talking it out!

√ Explore All Five Senses with a Coconut

Our favorite 5 sense exploration was trying a coconut. If you’ve never tried a whole coconut, I’d highly recommend it. Cracking them open is tough and very LOUD. They are “weird looking and hairy,” says my son. The taste was surprisingly un-coconut-y to me. We broke open two coconuts this month, and it was hilarious both times.

√ Listen for Familiar Sounds

We read in the Ears book that our brains ignore a lot of sounds that we normally hear as background noise – the refrigerator kicking on or the air intake for the a/c in your house. It was fun pointing these sounds out and noticing what we normally would miss.

√ Play I Spy

We play “I Spy with my Little Eye…” all the time in our family. Knowing our five senses gives the game a new twist.

Some ideas to up your I Spy game:

Describe the color or shape of an object
Describe the texture of an object
Describe what sound something makes
Describe the taste or smell of an object
Need an extra hint? Describe the same object using a different sense

√ Explore the Five Senses with Hands-on Activities

My son had a great time exploring what was inside the eye and ear. I could see that when looked at diagrams after this he had a much better understanding of what was going on in there.

√ Good or Gross Taste Test

The oldest attended a K-2 museum class about the sense of taste. They tasted salt, sugar, bittersweet chocolate, hot cocoa, lemon juice, and coffee beans and practiced using new vocabulary to describe what they were sensing.

Is it good? Is it gross? Tell me, does it taste sweet? Salty? Bitter? Sour? Creamy? Gritty?

Find out what types of flavors your child enjoys – the answers may surprise you! Record your results, and make sure to use those new words at every meal!

√ Learn about Different Textures

One easy activity I added to our handwriting routine this week was to draw the letters on different materials with his finger. Then describe what you’re feeling.

Some new textures to try:

Felt
Foam Board
Fur
Shaving cream
A wet window or damp mirror
Sandpaper
Carpet
Smooth metal (like the fridge door)

√ Feel Your Own Sense of Balance

We worked on our yoga moves to explore our sense of balance. Tree, Half Moon, Hand to Toe, Warrior 3, and Seated Angle poses were all great balance poses to work on gross motor as well as feel how our sense of balance helped keep us from falling – er um, helped us know when we were going to fall so our bodies could react.

√ Recognize Senses of Hunger, Thirst, and Pain

How do you know you’re hungry or thirsty of if something hurts? You can sense it in your body.

Recognizing and talking about the {other} senses from our bodies can help children distinguish physical senses from their emotions. Is this something your brain wants? Or is it something your body needs?

This lead to a lot of – Are you sure you’re sensing hunger? Or do you just want another waffle because they are delicious? Are you sure that boo-boo hurts or is it just an old piece of strawberry and not really blood?

√ Spin a Sense Printable Game

Used a live Mr. Potato Head to practice identifying the body parts that go along with the five senses. Find a free printable from A Little Pinch of Perfect.

The kids thought it was very funny when Mr. Potato had two sets of eyes and three arms. Great for fine motor practice. Trust me, I even needed help getting those little parts in the holes.

Books about the Five Senses for Kids

Read Alouds

We read and re-read throughout the month, especially My Five Senses. It is a simple book and a great introduction to the senses.

My Five Senses by Aliki
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle
Senses on the Farm by Rotner
Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Cole and Degan

Beginning Readers

Love these books. I’m pretty sure I had The Nose Book as a kid. I can’t wait for Dr. Seuss week this year.

The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss
The Ear Book by Perkins
The Nose Book by Perkins
You Can’t Smell a Flower with your Ear by Cole

Non-Fiction

These books were great to get an inside view of how your eyes and ears work.

Ears by Mathers
Eyes by Jedrosz

We didn’t read this one page-by-page. That would have been a lot for a 5 year old. He was very interested in the pictures and diagrams. These will be a great reference book in the furture.

Five Senses Playlist for Kids

A roughly half-hour playlist on the five senses (and a few extra senses at the end). Learn about your senses with fun videos, songs, and read alouds for kids.
Five Senses Kindergarten Playlist on YouTube

Kids Shows about the Five Senses

Magic School Bus
In the Haunted House, Sound, Season 1, Episode 8
Makes a Stink, Smell, Season 4, Episode 9

Sid the Science Kid, Season 1
The Itchy Tag (Sense of Touch, Textures), Episode 11
What’s that Smell, Episode 12
Grandma’s Glasses, Episode 13
Too Much Noise, Episode 14
All My Senses, Episode 15

Brain Games
Watch This, Season 1, Episode 1
In Living Color, Season 3, Episode 2

Free Printable Worksheets about the Five Senses

I used these printables to create a workbook for this unit that we worked on together over the course of the month.

He completed some independently – using a word bank to label the senses, drawing what he sensed around him. Other pages we did together – recording our experiments with apples, salt and sugar, and popcorn.

5 Senses (Super Senses)

My Five Senses – Labeling Freebie

Experiments

5 Senses with Apples

5 Senses Salt or Sugar Anchor Chart

Five Senses – Popcorn Investigation Freebie

This ended up being a fun topic to dig into. We had a few time-to-sit-down-and-learn-about-our-senses lessons, but mostly we explored and talked about all there is around us. Even my three year old is telling me what she smells and hears and tastes.

FUN Five Senses Activities for Kindergarten!

Exploring the Five Senses (and a few more), activities and resources for a kindergarten unit