CIRCLE TIME ACTIVITIES
General Senses
FINGERPLAYS AND SONGS
Head and Shoulders
Head and shoulders
Happy Senses
Eyes, eyes they can see
Teeth
Teeth, teeth they can chew
My Five Senses
I have eyes that can see
I Can Hear
I can hear a dog bark
I can hear a brass band
I can hear a horn blow
We hear, see, feel, and smell
Five Senses Poem
Throwing away food is such a waste,
Singing the Senses
We use five senses everyday
Important Things
Seeing, hearing touching, too.
This Old Man
This old man was a spy,
This old man likes to doze.
This old man couldn't hear,
The Parts of the Body
If a bird you want to hear,
Sight
My Eyes
Here are my eyes,
When they are open,
Hearing
Do your Ears Hang Low?
Do your ears hang low,
Touch
Hands
My hands can clap,
Taste
We Use Our Tongues
We use our tongues to taste our food,
(Adapt the last line to describe other foods. Ex. Sugar is sweet)
Smell
The Skunk Song
Well (drawn out)
CIRCLE TIME ACTIVITIES
Discussions And Games
General Senses
- Discuss the names of the five senses and the body parts
that we use. Begin by pointing to your ears, eyes, mouth, nose and
hands. Ask the children what you are pointing at and what they use
them for everyday.
- Play "Name the Sense". Name an activity and have the
children say which sense or senses they would use. For example
watching TV (sight & hearing), petting a rabbit (touch), etc.
Sight
- Discuss what we use our eyes for and what would happen if
we couldn't see. Discuss how people who can't see get around and how
we would use our other senses to help us. Have the children close
their eyes and discuss what it is like to not be able to see. Talk
about how blind people do simple things without the use of their
sight, such as read.
- Play the game `I Spy'.
- Find several balls that are the same size but different
colors. Have the students identify each ball. Blindfold a student and
ask him/her to identify each ball. Discuss why you can't identify the
different balls without the use of sight.
- On a flannel board put a number of different shapes or
pictures. Have the children close their eyes and take away one item.
See who can identify which item is missing. Discuss why we couldn't
play this game if we had no sight.
- Show the class several items and let them look at them for
a minute. Then hide the items and see who can remember what they saw.
Hearing
- Discuss things that we can hear but not see. Such as a
siren, smoke alarm etc. talk about what it would be like not to be
able to hear. Discuss what things could happen to them if they
couldn't hear, such as getting run over by a car, or not hearing the
telephone.
- Tape all different types of sounds on a cassette tape.
Play the sounds for the children and see if they can identify what
the sound is. Start with easy ones, such as a car horn and gradually
get harder. Some sounds might be, a toilet flushing, door shutting,
doorbell, telephone, microwave beeping, dripping water, etc.
- Play different types of music and discuss how it makes you
feel.
- Tape the children's voices and see if they can recognize
their own voice.
- Fill film canisters or plastic eggs with a variety of
items such as pennies, paper clips, cotton balls, etc. Pass them
around the circle and have the children shake the container and guess
what is inside.
Touch
- Talk about how we feel with our skin but mostly the skin
on our fingers. Talk about how we can feel different things, hot,
cold, pain, tickles, etc. Discuss how different items feel. Talk
about how a cat would feel (soft), sandpaper (rough), etc
- Hide familiar items in a bag, have the children identify
the object just by touch. Have the children describe the object by
how it feels, hard, soft, cold, etc.
Taste
- Discuss how we use our tongue to taste and that thee are
different taste buds for the different tastes, sweet, sour, salty and
bitter. Talk about what our favorite foods are and what they taste
like.
- Have different colored Jellybeans, ask the children to
taste them and figure out what flavour they are. Make a chart to show
which are the favorite flavours.
Smell
- Discuss what we use the sense of smell for. Talk about
what smells good and bad. Ask the children what would happen if we
couldn't smell. Talk about what happens when you have a cold and your
nose is stuffed up.
- Different items that smell. Have the children discuss how
they smell.
- Blindfold the children and have them identify different
food items only by their smell. Some items would be oranges,
peppermint, cinnamon, popcorn, etc.
- Make a chart of good smells and bad smells.
Messy Table Fun Activities
Sight
- Hide different items in the sandbox or rice table, give
the students magnifying glasses and have them see what they can find.
- Fill clear glasses with water and drop different items
(coins, small toys, etc.) into the glasses. See if the children
notice how the items look different in the water.
- Pour milk into a round cake pan. Squeeze drops of food
coloring (different colors) on top of the milk. Add a drop of liquid
detergent down the side of the pan. The colors will move away and
mix. Repeat the detergent down the opposite side of the pan; the
colors will change again.
- Have the children mix food coloring with water. Mix the
colors and have the children predict what will happen. For example
mix yellow and red and see if they can guess what color it will make.
Hearing
- Have students drop different items into the water table.
Notice how different items make a different sound when they are
dropped. Have the children discover if size and shape affects the
sound it makes.
- Fill glasses with different levels of water, have the
children tap the glasses with a spoon and discover how the amount of
water effects the sound it makes.
Touch
- Hide a number of objects in the sandbox or rice table.
Have the children search in the table for the item and identify it
only by touch.
- Provide different materials for the children to touch and
describe. For example have them play with Jell-O and tell what it
feels like.
- Have the children paint with finger paints, pudding etc.
and describe what it feels like.
Taste
- Have the children experiment with different foods and what
they taste like. - Provide foods that are sweet, sour,
bitter, and salty as well as warm and cold.
Smell
- Fill small jars or film canisters with different smelling
items, such as a cotton ball soaked in vanilla, coffee grounds, etc.
have the children identify the item by the smell.
- Mix up different flavours of Jell-O and have the children
identify the flavor by the smell.
- Add different smells to paint and play dough such as
peppermint, vanilla or lemon.
- Mix 4 cups of coffee grounds, ½ cup of salt, 1 cup
cornmeal, and 1 cup flour. Put this in your sand table instead of
sand, it is easier to clean up and smells great, too.
CREATIVE ART PROJECTS
General Senses
- Trace the child's body. Label the body part and senses.
- Put together a Five Senses booklet (see patterns). Have
the children draw or find pictures of items that go with the senses
and put them in the booklet.
- Cut a gingerbread man shape from rough sandpaper. Draw on
facial features and buttons using a marker. Glue this shape onto
construction paper and then have the children "color" their
gingerbread man with a cinnamon stick. This activity allows the
children to use all five senses. They can taste the cinnamon stick,
feel the rough and smooth paper, smell the cinnamon, hear how it
scratches as they color and see the difference in the color of their
gingerbread man.
Sight
- Make glasses out of stiff cardboard or tagboard (see
patterns). Use colored cellophane for the lenses.
- Make binoculars from toilet tissue rolls. Glue two rolls
together and put a string for hanging around your neck. Have the
children decorate them with pictures or stickers of things they like
to see.
- Make `spy bottles' with the kids. Have the children half
fill a clear pop bottle with sand, rice or birdseed. Then put small
items (such as coins, buttons, rocks, etc.) in the bottle and finish
filling it to about ¾ full. Replace the lid and glue it on. Have the
children roll the bottle around to see what is hidden. They can also
trade bottles and see if they can find what the other children have
hidden in their bottles.
- Have the children cut and color the eye wheel and eye (see
patterns). Put together with a brad fastener and spin the wheel to
see what they can see.
Hearing
- Make sound shakers. Use toilet paper rolls and cover one
end with waxed paper attaching it with masking tape. Have the
children fill the tube with pasta or beans, then cover the other end.
Have the children decorate the tube.
- Make musical instruments such as drums from oatmeal tins,
tambourines from paper plates, shakers, guitars from Kleenex boxes,
etc. Have the children march and play their instruments.
- Make telephones from paper cups and string.
Touch
- Print the child's name on a large piece of paper. Outline
the letters in glue and then put sand, rice, pasta etc. on the glue.
Have the children close their eyes and trace their name.
- Trace the children's hands and have them glue different
materials onto the hand. They can use such things as sandpaper,
cotton balls, etc.
- Finger paint using different materials such as shaving
cream, pudding, or paint. Talk about how each feels.
Taste
- Cut out pictures of different foods, have the children
glue them onto paper plates. Talk about what the foods taste like,
sweet sour, hot, cold, etc.
- Create a picture by finger painting with pudding. Make
sure the students taste the pudding while they work.
- Divide a piece of paper into half and label one
half `like' and the other `don't like'. Have the students glue
pictures of food onto the appropriate section of the paper. When they
are finished compare which foods each child likes or doesn't like.
Smell
- Have the students draw a flower garden. Use cotton balls
soaked in peppermint, cinnamon, perfume, etc for the centers of the
flowers.
- Make flowers by gluing cupcake papers onto a piece of
paper, then add stems and leaves. Color cotton balls by shaking them
in powdered tempera paint and glue one into the center of the cup.
Spray the cotton ball with perfume to make the flower smell. This
makes a nice cover for a Mother's Day card.
- Divide a piece of paper in half and glue pictures on one
side of things that smell good and on the other side things that
smell bad.
- Cut out a teddy bear shape glue dry coffee grounds or
cinnamon on the bear.
- Make scratch and sniff paint by mixing a package of Kool-
Aid with about 1-2 tablespoons of water. Have the children paint
pictures of grapes, oranges, strawberries, etc. When the paint is dry
scratch and sniff the artwork.
OUTSIDE GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
General senses
- Go for a walk around your yard or community. Discuss what
you see, hear, feel, smell and where possible taste. Collect items
to bring home and use in a senses collage.
Sight
- Play `Blindman's Bluff. Blindfold one child and have
him/her stand in the middle of the circle of students. The center
person spins around and points to a person when he stops. The person
he points to must say something and the blindfolded child must guess
who it is.
- Play "Blindman's Tag". Blindfold one child and they must
try to tag the other children. Play this in an area that is clear of
any toys etc. so that no one gets hurt.
- Have the children close their eyes and try to walk for one
point to another. Discuss how it would feel to be blind. It is a good
idea to have someone guide the child.
- Set up an obstacle course and have the children go through
it blindfolded. Have another child tell the one that is
blindfolded where to go and what to do. This can also be used for
hearing.
- Play hide and seek.
Hearing
- Explore the yard using your sense of hearing. Write down
all the sounds that you hear.
- Play `Simon Says". Tell the children to use their sense of
hearing to know what they are suppose to do.
Touch
- Go for a walk and discover how different things feel. Take
off your shoes and discover the sandbox, or the warm sidewalk.
- Go to a farm or a petting zoo to see how different
animals feel.
Taste
- Go on a field trip to a supermarket or restaurant.
- Go for ice cream.
Smell
- Go on a field trip to a bakery.
- Go for a walk and talk about what you smell and if you
like the smell or not.
COOKING ACTIVITIES
General Senses
- Pop popcorn. This is a good activity for all the senses.
- Peanut butter Balls
1 cup butter,
2 cups peanut butter,
3 tsp vanilla,
5 cups powdered sugar,
48 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips,
¼ cup paraffin wax
Cream butter, peanut butter and vanilla together, blend in sugar.
Form into small balls. Melt chocolate chips and wax in the top of a
double boiler. Using a toothpick, dip the balls into the chocolate.
Place on waxed paper.
Touch
Playdough
2 cups flour,
1 cup salt,
2 1/2 tsp cream of tartar,
1 tbsp oil,
2 cups water
Add food coloring to the water and oil before adding to dry
ingredients. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. This makes a nice,
soft play dough that will keep a long time in an airtight container.
- Make slime by mixing cornstarch and a little water. Add
water until the mixture is stiff when rolled in your hand but melts
through your fingers when not rolling. If the slime is too thick add
more water and if it is too thin add more cornstarch. Add food
coloring to make different colors.
Silly Putty
- In a ziplock bag, place 1 TBSP Elmer's glue, 1 TBSP water,
and 2 drops of food coloring. Mix well. In a container mix ½ cup
water and 1 TBSP Borax. After the glue, water and food coloring have
been mixed add 1 TBSP of the Borax mixture. Close the bag and mix
well. The result is a close resemblance to the real silly putty.
Taste
- Make your favorite Gingerbread cookies. This is also
appropriate for the sense of smell.
- Make any of your favorite recipes.
- Make lemonade. Taste it before and after you add the sugar
and discuss which tastes better.
Smell
- Gingerbread Playdough
1 cup flour,
½ cup salt,
2 tsp cream of tartar,
1 cup water,
1 tsp vegetable oil,
food coloring (equal parts of red and green make brown),
allspice,
cinnamon
Mix the dry ingredients, add allspice and cinnamon. Add lots until
you get the smell you want. In another bowl add food coloring to
water. Add colored water and oil to dry ingredients and stir. Cook
the mixture for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently. Knead the dough
until it becomes soft and smooth. Allow to cool and store in airtight
containers.
- Use unsweetened Kool-Aid in place of allspice and
cinnamon. This will make different colors and scents.
SCIENCE ACTIVITIES
General Senses
- Make smelly volcanoes by adding Kool-Aid to dry baking
soda. This gives it color and makes it smell. Then add vinegar to the
baking soda using an eye dropper. The children can see the chemical
reaction and hear it turn from a liquid into a gas. The children can
explore the bubbles, liquid and dry ingredients by touching them.
Sight
- Set out magnifying glasses, binoculars, sunglasses,
microscopes and kaleidoscopes. Let the children discover how they
work and how they make other things look.
- Show the children a book written in Braille. Discuss how
people who cannot see, are able to read by using their sense of touch.
Hearing
- Set out a collection items that make different noises,
such as recorders, whistles, shakers, etc. Let the children explore
how they make the noise and how they make different sounds. Have them
close their eyes and try to identify the sounds.
- Let the children experiment with a tape recorder. They can
tape different sounds and their voices. Talk about why your voice
sounds different to you when you hear it on tape.
Touch
- Create a `feely box'. This is a box with a hole in the
top. Cut the end off an old sock and attach this to the hole. The
children put their hand through the sock into the box and feel what
is in the box.
- Have a variety of objects in the feely box and have a
duplicate of items on the outside of the box. The children feel the
item in the box and match it to one on the outside.
- Set out a box of materials and two boxes, one labelled
rough and the other smooth. Have the children sort the items into the
correct box according to how they feel.
Taste
- Do an experiment to see the relationship between taste,
smell and sight. Blindfold the children, have them plug their nose
and then taste a piece of food. See if they can identify the food
just by the taste of it. Pieces fruit or jellybeans work well for
this.
- Show the children a picture of the tongue with the areas
of the different taste buds marked on it. Have them experiment by
putting different foods on the different areas. See if they can taste
sweet with the sour taste buds etc.
Smell
- Blindfold the children and have them identify different
items just by the smell.
- Cover baby food jars with paper and punch holes in the
lid. Fill the jars with strong smelling items, such as fruit, coffee
beans, flowers, garlic, extracts, spices etc. If they are liquids
apply it to a cotton ball and put that in the jar. Have the children
describe the smell in the jars and guess what it is.
- Make two jars of each smell and have the students pick out
the ones that smell the same.
DRAMATIC PLAY IDEAS
Sight
Eye Doctor's Office
- Eye chart made using letters in various sizes
- White lab coat
- Toy glasses and sunglasses
- Notebook and pen for taking appointments
- The children can take turns being the doctor, patient and
receptionist.
Detective Agency
- Magnifying glasses
- Trench coat and hat
- Telephone
- The children can pretend to be a detective and solve
mysteries.
Hearing
Recording studio
- Tape recorder
- Tapes or CDs to sing along with
- Blank tapes
- Headphones
- Children can pretend to be a singing star and sing along
with a tape or sing their own songs and record them on tape.
Touch
Clothing store
- clothes made from different types of materials
- Hangers for the clothes
- Hats, gloves, etc.
Taste
Bakery or Grocery Store
- Play food
- Cash register
- Play money
- Apron
Smell
Flower Shop
- Plastic flowers
- Plastic vases
- Cash register
- Play money
MATH ACTIVITIES
Sight
- Have the children sort items by color shape, etc.
Hearing
- Tap on a drum or block a certain number of times. Have the
students close their eyes and see if they can count the number of
taps.
Touch
- Cut out numbers from sandpaper. Have the students close
their eyes and touch the number. See if they can tell what the number
is.
BULLETIN BOARD IDEAS
Divide the board into five sections. Label one section for each sense
(see, taste, hear, touch, smell). Beside each word have a picture of
the corresponding body part (eyes, hand, ears, hand, nose). Have the
children look in magazines to find pictures of people using their
senses. Cut out the pictures and put them in the correct section on
the board.
BOOK LIST
General Senses
My Five Senses by Aliki
Sight
Arthur's Glasses by Marc Brown
Lucky Glasses by Jane Carruth
Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats
I See Something you Don't See by Robin Michal Koonz
Brown bear, brown bear, What do You See? By Bill Martin
Hearing
Geraldine, the Music Mouse by Leo Leonni
Little Frog Learns to Sing by Lucille LeBlanc
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret W. Brown
Touch
Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Red Balloon by A. Lamourisse
Taste
The Gingerbread Man by Karen Lee Schmidt
Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Blueberries For Sal by R. McCloskey
Smell
Arthur's Nose by Marc Brown
Clifford Follows his Nose by Norman Bridwell
Smelling Things by Allan Fowler
Click on the "Back" Button to go back to
Knees and toes
Knees and toes
Knees and toes
Head and shoulders knees and toes
Eyes, ears mouth and nose
Nose, nose it can smell
Fingers, fingers they can touch
Hip hip hooray, I'm happy.
Tongue, tongue it can taste
Fingers, fingers they can touch
Hip hip hooray, I'm happy.
And a nose that can smell
I have fingers that can touch
And they do it very well
I have ears that can hear
And a tongue that can taste
These five things I should not waste.
I can see a bird fly
I can feel a rough stone
I can smell a peach pie
I can see the hot sun
I an feel a sharp nail
I can smell a warm bun
I can see the blue sky
I can feel a hot stove
I can smell a burnt pie
A small rose a tall tree
I can see and hear you
You can see and hear me!
If you love the sense of taste.
To notice a difference between black and white,
We must use the sense of sight.
If a skunk is near, you can tell,
If you use your sense of smell.
Our ears tell us when folks are cheering.
We call this our sense of hearing.
A soft fuzzy rabbit doesn't seem like much,
Unless you use your sense of touch.
(Sung to "Bingo")
To help us learn and play.
See, hear, smell, touch, taste
See, hear, smell, touch, taste
See, hear, smell, touch, taste
We use these everyday.
(Sung to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Are important thing to do.
Smelling, tasting something new,
Help us learn the whole day through.
Seeing, hearing, touching too,
Are important things to do.
he played knick knack on my eye.
With a knick knack paddy-whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.
He played knick knack on my nose.
This old man lived down south,
He played knick knack on my mouth.
He played knick knack on my ear.
This old man likes to linger,
He played knick knack on my finger.
You have to listen with your _____.
If you want to dig in the sand,
Hold the shovel in your _____.
To see an airplane as it flies,
You must open up your ____.
To smell a violet or a rose,
You sniff the fragrance through your _____.
When you walk across the street,
You use two things you call your _____.
East and west and north and south,
To eat or talk you use your______.
One and two.
I give a wink,
So can you.
I can see light.
When they are closed,
It is dark as night.
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot,
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?
My fingers can wiggle.
Touching furry animals
Can make me giggle.
(sung to "Mary had a Little Lamb")
Taste our food, taste our food.
We use our tongues to taste our food.
Pretzels are salty.
I stuck my head in a little skunk's hole
(make a circle with your
hands and hold head down)
And the little skunk said, "Well, bless my soul, take it out".
(click
tongue twice)
Take it out
(click tongue twice)
Remove it, remove it.
Well (drawn out)
I didn't take it out and the little skunk said, "if you don't take it
out, you're gonna wish you did.
Take it out
(click tongue twice)
Take it out
(click tongue twice)
Remove it!
Psssssssssssssssss.
I removed it, confidentially ----- it stinks!!!!!
(hold nose)
the PnF Main Theme and Curriculum Pages
