Preschool Five Senses Activities

Last Updated on September 18, 2021 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Looking for preschool five senses activities? This collection includes fun ideas that encourage young children to explore in a variety of ways!

When you are putting together activities for your preschoolers, how can you make them a multi-sensory experience?

How can you add five senses activities to your everyday life, at home and at school?

Using our five senses strengthens our everyday experiences. It helps us understand the world around us.

• What noises did you hear?
• What is it you saw?
• What did it smell like?
• Did you like the taste?
• How did it feel?

Think of this when you are planning preschool activities for the 5 senses. It will make them much more meaningful, building cognitive skills. They will have a better understanding of the world around them.

 

 

Preschool Five Senses Activities

 

Sense of Touch

Most touch activities involve the hands and feet. Children learn how to communicate with others through touch. Engaging their hands builds their fine motor skills, helping them learn how to do more for themselves, such as writing their names and buttoning their coats.

 

Press on marbles through a bag and move them all around to paint mittens.

Explore the feeling of cold inside a sensory bin.

Press paper onto shaving cream and paint to make apple prints.

Add nubby balls to paint for a fun process art activity.

Enjoy the feeling of bubbles and water while handling rubber ducks in a spring sensory bin.

Make your own texture boxes to add to your science area. (Pre-Kinders)

Explore different textures with a sensory high five activity. (Teach Preschool)

Try one of these 5 games to develop the sense of touch. (Childhood 101)

 

 Sense of Smell

As children are exposed to different smells, they learn more about our environment. They will be able to distinguish between good and bad smells, comfortable and uncomfortable smells.

 

Paint with herbal tea bags and enjoy the scent at the same time.

Add some sense of smell to your playdough table (after making it yourself).

Add some lemon scent to dyed rice for a fun sunflower sensory table.

Enjoy the smell of cinnamon sticks in a fall apple sensory table.

Gather different types of lotions and compare how they smell – or mix them up! (Hands On As We Grow)

Make your own spice paint for a sense of smell experience at the art table.  (Mama Papa Bubba)

Compare the smell of 2 different flowers during circle time. (No Time for Flashcards)

Read some five senses books. (Play to Learn Preschool)

Put together different smelling bottles. (Things to Share and Remember)

Work on name recognition with this scratch and sniff activity. (Fun-a-Day)

Get outdoors and be creative with scented sidewalk chalk. (Parenting Chaos)

 

Sense of Sight

Sense of sight activities helps preschoolers learn about their eyes as they explore the world around them.

 

Create a window decoration that adds lots of color to the room.

Hang colored tissue paper leaves to the window during the fall.

Put together a multi-sensory experiment that includes Jello. (Fun-a-Day)

Make some colorful toilet roll lenses. (Teach Preschool)

Try one of these blindfold games with your children. (Pre-Kinders)

Use cardboard to make color viewers with handles. (Preschool Toolkit)

Sense of Sound

Indoors and outdoors, there are many opportunities for preschools to engage their listening skills.

 

Use magnets to pick up and listen to pumpkin bells.

Add jingle bells to sticks to create an instrument for the holidays.

Listen to jingle bells as they are mixed with paint.

After reading Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, go on a sound hunt. (Inspiration Laboratories)

Create the sound of rain with these DIY rain sticks. (Happy Hooligans)

Using the free printable, go on a sound walk. (Buggy and Buddy)

Add bells to paintbrushes and listen to them jingle as you paint. (No Time for Flashcards)

 

 Sense of Taste

Many events in a child’s life involve food. Sense of taste activities teach preschoolers that the sense of taste and smell are connected.

 

Put together a sense of taste discovery center. (Teach Preschool)

Make and taste homemade applesauce.

Fill a muffin tin with an assortment of foods – salty, sour, sweet, spicy and bitter. (Create, Play, Travel)

Explore the sense of taste with one of these 15 edible playdough recipes. (Kids Activities Blog)

Encourage your children to describe different foods they taste. (Learn, Play, Imagine)

Use popcorn not only to engage the sense of taste, but all the other senses, too. (I Heart Crafty Things)

Invite your children to try the salt and sugar test. (Pre-Kinders)

Challenge the taste buds while exploring lemon foods. (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

 

 Five Senses Activity Plans

I’ve teamed up with other early childhood teachers and homeschoolers to put together these hands-on five senses activity plans for toddlers and preschoolers!

Easy to follow activities that include activity modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners.

Note: This is a digital product. That means when you make a purchase, you will be emailed a link to the activities.

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