Five Senses Activities in Kindergarten

Engaging the five senses in kindergarten activities is a wonderful way to encourage sensory exploration and provide a multi-sensory learning experience. Here are five exciting activities that target each of the senses. I am working away on all units my class will be covering at the start of the school year because every veteran teacher KNOWS how crazy the first month in Kindergarten can be.

Five Senses Activities in Kindergarten

To open the topic of our Five Senses, I start with this section, asking my student What Are Our Senses. We work on listing each sense and talk about what part of our body helps us with that sense. Then, we talk about our 5 senses.

We chart what our senses are and what they are not. We also talk about what senses use and what parts of our body are. This is a pocket chart puzzle. There is an image of the sense activity on the left, the actual sense in the middle, and the part of our body we use on the right.

There is also a printable to follow up the activity as well as a writing prompt to elaborate on the topic at hand. You can see the printable for “Not Our Senses or Our Senses” cut and sort which is great for independent practice.

The printable in the back asks the students questions and gives them space to write their answers.
They can draw in a picture to match OR they can use the images I provide. One of the BEST features is the variety of charts and activities you can choose from.  And all the border colors MATCH  for easy assembly and organization for the teacher. 

After we cover the introduction about what our senses ARE, we break down each of our senses deeper by engaging the five senses in kindergarten activities.

Sense of Hearing

The first of the five senses in kindergarten activities, let’s talk about HEARING. There are two types of charts to use. One of the charts covers our Sense of Hearing. There is a blank version I use to project the chart onto my smart board, then we fill it in as a class.

There is also a chart we use to discuss what we HEAR. I love this charting because we have a chance to talk MORE about what we hear and how. I like the chart options because some of our students have more knowledge or less knowledge about hearing. This allows you to pick what is best for the needs of your class to cover all five senses of the body.

We also take time to do a pocket chart sorting activity I have cards with loud and quiet on them.
We can first sort the things we hear, then we sort them by how loud or quiet we hear. There are two cut-and-sort printables options as well as a writing prompt. Once discusses how we hear to learn. Another cut and sort for loud and quiet.

Sound Guessing Game

Collect a range of everyday objects that produce different sounds, such as a bell, a shaker, a drum, or a whistle. Blindfold a student and have them listen to each sound while trying to guess the object. This activity enhances auditory discrimination skills. I personally use this Lakeshore Mystery Capsule activity.

Sense of Sight

On a separate day, we can cover our sense of sight for our five senses in kindergarten activities. There are charts, sorting activities, and printables. Here is a look at the chart options. One chart is for “Our Sense of Sight” and comes with a blank chart as well as a completed chart. The other chart is for “We Can See.”

There are TONS of pocket chart sorting pieces with this topic as well. The sense of sight is one of the most basic senses that we use constantly. We focus a lot on what we can use to learn through our sense of sight. We also discuss that some people struggle with seeing and need glasses or are blind. I also show my learners the brail signs throughout our building like to the bathroom and other rooms in our building.

And here are this sense’s printables. 

Sense of Sight Activity

Nature Scavenger Hunt: Take students on a nature walk or explore the schoolyard. Provide them with a checklist of things to find, such as specific colors, shapes, or patterns in nature. This activity encourages observation skills and visual perception.

Sense of Touch

Next, we have the sense of touch. This section also includes charts, printables, and sorting pieces. 
The charts are always an exceptional way to guide learning. Check out these sorting pieces!

You can sort things by which sense they use, AND by how they feel. 

These printables are a great way to support classroom learning. Here is a smooth and rough sorting sheet as well as a hot and cold sorting sheet. And of course, you get a writing prompt activity as well. 

Sensory Bin Activity

Fill a bin with materials like sand, rice, or water beads. Add various objects with different textures such as smooth stones, fuzzy pom-poms, or rough shells. Encourage children to explore the bin using their hands, describing the textures they feel.

Sense of Taste

The Sense of taste day might be my favorite day in the five Senses in kindergarten activities. I am sure you can guess why… and it is most likely the same reason as yours. Today involves eating things.

Next, this day has THREE sets of charts. It has “Our Sense of Taste” charts, ‘We Can Taste” charts…

And it has this tongue diagram chart as well.  I can’t wait to use this diagram when we taste test to learn which parts of our tongue tell us what.

Sorting is going to be amazing as well. We can sort by our senses and by what things taste like. 

(Did you notice the sorting pieces MATCH the diagram!?) And check out this set of printables.
There is a taste sort. I did not include bitter since many of the bitter things our students don’t eat or would be hard to bring to school to taste in bulk.

Taste Test

Introduce a variety of foods with different flavors, such as sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Examples include apples, lemons, pretzels, and dark chocolate. Guide students through a taste-testing activity, allowing them to describe the flavors they experience.

Sense of Smell

For the sense of smell, we have pocket chart pieces and printables for students to use and love. There are two sets of charts. And TONS of sorting pieces. You can sort by senses as well as by good and bad smells. Since teachers always want to expand vocabulary, we use the terms pleasant and foul for smells.

Scented Art

Provide scented markers, crayons, or paints and encourage children to create artwork while engaging their sense of smell. You can also set up smell stations with scented playdough or scented stickers, allowing children to explore and describe the different smells.

Five Senses in Kindergarten Activities

Remember, these activities can be adapted to suit your classroom’s resources and themes. It’s essential to create a safe and supervised environment during sensory activities, especially when dealing with food or small objects. Engaging the five senses in kindergarten not only makes learning enjoyable but also helps children develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.

I know you will love this pack! As always EACH section is color coded and so easy to prep,
organize, and use.