What is this skill?
People take in the world through five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Each one has a body part that does most of the work. We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nose, taste with our tongue, and feel with our hands and skin. Kindergartners are learning to name the sense, match it to the body part and decide which sense fits a situation.
This practice starts with plain matches, such as "What do you see with?" (eyes) and "What do you hear with?" (ears). Then come small stories: cookies baking in the oven (smell), petting soft fur (touch), a lemon that is sour (taste), a dog barking far away (hearing) and a blanket that feels soft (touch). Sorting games put things into groups such as See, hear or taste, or Smell or touch. The harder questions ask which sense tells you a pan is hot, how a child knows it is popcorn with their eyes closed, and whether you can use more than one sense at a time. You can.
Why it matters
The senses are how scientists, and kindergartners, gather information. Describing what you see, hear, smell, taste and feel is the first step in observing, and observing is the first step in every experiment a child will do in later grades.
Knowing the senses is also about safety. Touch warns you a pan is hot. Smell can tell you that food has gone bad. Hearing helps a child notice a car. Talking about what each sense is for makes children more aware of their surroundings.
It builds vocabulary, too. A child who can say a blanket is soft, a lemon is sour and a drum is loud has more words for describing the world, which helps with reading and writing.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the body parts, like saying you hear with your nose. A silly question gets a laugh, and the laugh helps children remember the right answer.
- Using only one sense for a situation. Popcorn can be smelled, seen, heard popping and tasted. The practice includes a question about using more than one sense so that children know there is more than one right way in.
- Forgetting that touch is not just hands. Skin all over the body feels heat, cold and softness.
- Mixing up smell and taste. They work closely together, which is why food tastes different with a stuffy nose, but a child should know the nose is for smell and the tongue is for taste.
How to help at home
- Play a sense walk. Stop outside and ask your child to find one thing to see, one to hear and one to smell, and ask them to tell you which sense they used.
- Put a few items in a paper bag, such as a spoon, a sock and a pinecone, and let your child guess by touch alone.
- Taste a tiny bit of a lemon, a cracker and a raisin together, and ask which words describe each one: sour, salty, sweet.
- Close your eyes at dinner and try to name each food by smell only. Switch roles and let your child test you.
Worked examples
These are real questions from the Tutorsaurus the five senses practice, with the answers worked out.
Example 1
Your tongue helps you taste.
Answer: True. True! Your tongue tastes sweet, sour, salty and more.
Example 2
Smell or touch?
To sort: 🌹 Rose, 🧊 Ice cube, 🧦 Fuzzy sock, 🍕 Pizza, 🪨 Rough rock, 🧄 Garlic
Answer: Smell: Rose, Pizza, Garlic · Touch: Ice cube, Fuzzy sock, Rough rock. You smell a rose, pizza and garlic. You feel an ice cube, a fuzzy sock and a rough rock with your hands.
Example 3
Eyes closed, you know it's popcorn. Which sense?
Choices: 👃 Smell, ✋ Touch, 👀 Sight
Answer: Smell. Your nose smells the buttery popcorn, even with your eyes closed. You might hear it pop, too!
Printable worksheet (PDF) — one page of questions from this practice that work on paper, easier ones first, with an answer key on page 2. Free to print, no sign-up.