Preschool Sensory Activities

Kids investigate the world using the five senses all the time; they touch, taste, smell, follow the sounds that they hear and look. Having said that, do they really need sensory activities? The answer is yes they certainly do!

They need these activities in order to get to know their senses and how best to utilize them. In most cases children use their senses as a total package, but do they know how to recognize smells, sounds, sights, consistencies and tastes when we force them to isolate and use only one sense at a time? Maybe not, even adults can have difficulty in doing this sometimes.

The object of sensory activities is not to teach kids to use their senses, but rather to sharpen and nurture each sense individually, and in doing this to enhance the overall experience of using all of the senses.

The sense of sight

Drawing blindfolded

• Cover your child's eyes with a blindfold, and ask him to draw on a piece of drawing paper. While he is drawing ask him how he feels when he can't see what he is drawing.
• When he has finished, request that he draw the same drawing without a blindfold.
• Compare between the drawings and ask him what the difference is between the drawings. Ask why one drawing is more accurate than the other, and which sense assisted him in drawing accurately. Ask how he felt when he couldn't see and how he felt when he did see what he was doing.

The world through glasses

• Present your child with different glasses (not optical glasses): glasses with frames without lenses, glasses with dark lenses, glasses with transparent lenses, etc.
• Ask him to wear a pair of glasses and describe what he sees through them (items, colors, sizes, shapes, etc.).
• After describing what he saw through all of the pairs of glasses, ask him to describe what he sees without glasses.
• Compare the sight through the different pairs of glasses to the sight without glasses.

The world in colors

• Place different colored sheets of cellophane in front of your child.
• Ask your child to look at the room through the different sheets of cellophane.
• Ask him what he sees, and what color the room is when he looks through the colored cellophane.

The sense of hearing

Recognizing the origin of the sound

• Place an alarm clock in one of the rooms in the house and set it to ring.
• When the alarm goes off ask your child which direction the sound is coming from, whether it is near or far, what is making the noise and whether he can find where the sound is coming from.
• Allow your child to follow the sound until he reaches the alarm clock.

Recognition of recorded sounds

• Play different sounds to your child such as: a train, a baby crying, a bicycle horn, an airplane take off, animals, running water, etc...
• Ask your child to identify the sounds that he hears.

Sounds of the sea

• Give your child a shell.
• Ask him to press it to his ear.
• Ask him what he hears.

The sense of smell

Identifying smells

• Collect airtight food containers with plastic lids.
• Make holes in the lids.
• Place scented items in each box such as: soap, peanuts, chewing gum, cinnamon, toothpaste, etc...
• Close the containers, ask your child to smell and try to identify the contents of each container.

Scented markers
Kids love scented markers. They love to draw with them, but what excites them more is their lovely scents; each color has an appropriate scent:
pink - chewing gum, yellow - lemon, etc...

• Purchase a pack of scented markers.
• Allow your child to identify the scents of the different colors.

Scent sorting

• Place various pleasant smelling items in front of your child (perfume, a banana), and various unpleasant smelling items ( an onion, garlic).
• Ask your child to sort the items according to two categories, pleasant smells and unpleasant smells.
• Ask your child which additional items he would add to each category.

The sense of taste

Identifying food

• Cover your child's eyes with a blindfold.
• Enable him to taste different foods: fruit, vegetables, candy, etc...
• After each taste he has to identify the food that he has tasted.

Identifying beverages

• Pour different types of beverages into glasses: water, orange juice, raspberry juice, pineapple juice etc...
• Add a small amount of red food coloring to each glass.
• All of the beverages will be colored red and consequently your child will not be able to identify the beverage by sight.
• Ask your child to taste the different beverages and to identify them.

Flavor sorting

• Place different flavored foods in front of your child: sweet, bitter, salty, sour.
• Ask your child to sort the foods according to flavor.
• Ask your child which additional foods he would add to each of the categories.

The sense of touch

Identification of items according to consistency

• Place items with different consistencies in a container: a ball, fur, sand paper, a sponge, a stone, a feather, etc...
• Blindfold your child and ask him to take an item from the container.
• Now he has to describe the item. Is it pleasant or unpleasant to the touch. What kind of consistency does it have; smooth, rough, hard, soft. (This is a great opportunity to enrich your child's vocabulary.)

Building a face blindfolded

• Place parts of the face in front of your child: hair (make out of wool), eyes, nose, mouth.
• Blindfold your child.
• Now your child has to arrange the parts of the face using the sense of touch.

Sorting items according to consistency

• Place items with different consistencies in front of your child: rough, smooth, sticky, solid, silky, flexible, soft, hard, etc...
• Ask your child to sort the items according to consistency.
• Ask your child which additional items he would add to each of the categories.

Have you done all of the sensory activities but still feel that your child is in need of the sharpening and nurturing of one or more of the senses?

Repeat the sensory activities a number or times (while changing the items used), and try to challenge your child with identification of smells, tastes, sounds, sights and different consistencies that you have not yet tried.

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