The five senses
Your senses tell you what is happening around you. You have five: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Each sense uses its own sense organ to collect information. The eyes see light, the ears hear sounds, the nose smells, the tongue tastes and the skin feels touch, heat and cold. The senses also keep us safe. We see a car coming and wait on the pavement. We hear a horn and step back. We smell smoke and tell a grown-up. We feel that a teapot is hot and take our hand away. Each sense gives different information, and together they give a full picture of the world. Never taste or smell an unknown thing to find out what it is.
| Sense | Sense organ | It finds out… |
|---|---|---|
| sight | eyes | shapes, colours, movement |
| hearing | ears | sounds |
| smell | nose | smells in the air |
| taste | tongue | sweet, sour, salty, bitter |
| touch | skin | hot, cold, rough, smooth |
Mystery bag. A grown-up puts four safe, clean objects in a cloth bag: a sponge, a key, a wooden spoon, a cotton ball. Without looking, put one hand in and feel one object. Say what you feel (hard, soft, smooth, rough, cold) and guess the object. Then take it out and check. Which sense did you use? Repeat with a friend. Nothing goes in the mouth.