The senses

[kellyskidz!]

Hi all, I am currently (following a child intitated interest) doing a topic on 'The senses'
I've had the following ideas
Taste testing, sweet, sour, bitter..
Light box and light play
Gloop, jelly etc in playtray
Listening to sounds in the woods
Scented playtray activities like mixing cinnamon with sand or lavender leaves with rice

We've done 4 of these already

But now I'm stuck! I'm thinking of leaving it at that but the kids love this topic so much any other ideas would be great!xx

[loocyloo]

scented playdough plus colours/glitter/textures

go for a walk finding different textures ... take rubbings?

dark den - more light play!

blindfolded walks?

braille books ( there is a great one about colour that has braille writing that I got from my library, but I can't remember what it is called. it might be something like 'black book of colour' )

find some yucky things to smell?!!! ( farm truck just went past with the muck on it here! )

you can get soundtracks games that play a sound and you have to find it and put a counter on your board ( like lotto ) Soundtracks: Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games

audio stories

do some brightly coloured painting

choose some interesting fruit/veggies and taste/cook them.

maybe go to supermarket and ask if you can try bits of cheese at the deli.

have fun x

[EmmaReed84]

Some of the things I have done in the past...

- blind fold and give them familiar objects to guess what they are... Can also be done with food.
- made a collage with soft and rough things/bright and pale things
- One my kids love is the thing you do on their back that tickles them... "Line, line, dot, dot, curly wurly, electric shock" (use your finger to draw a line down their back twice, then do two dots either side of their back, draw a curly wurly line down their back and then thumb and finger on the back of their neck...(There are loads of variations of this)

Another thing we did, wasn't an "activity" but more like talking. The beginning of the year when it was so cold I took advantage and we talked about how we felt, and what we could do when we got in to get warm. The result was we all snuggled under a blanket with hot chocolate LOL!

[watgem]

balancing is also one of the senses, so see-saws, swings, bilibo, wobble board, ring a ring a roses etc

[yummyripples]

Definitely a walk. We made giant ears on a headband and we called it a listening walk. On our walk we discovered that when you cross the road there are bobbly bits on the last pavement block and we learned that this was to aid blind people. They are also at the tram station. You can identify the different types of traffic by sound, motorbikes, lorries etc. Listen to the green man beeping.
The kelloggs head starters website had a section a while ago. Depending on the children's ages it's worth a try.
Nature walks in the park and collecting conkers in and out of the shells - prickly, smooth etc. Kick and crunch through the autumn leaves - this can be reproduced by cornflakes inside. Listen for the squirrel's and the birds. Go to the farm for smells. Visit the garden centre for sights, colours, shapes etc, scents of herbs and flowers and touch, holly, cactus (obviously don't let them touch). Pets at home may let you feel the animals. maybe even a visit from a guide dog.
Hope you can use something from here x

[yummyripples]

Ooh and for my little ones I did a texture book. Cotton Wool. Bubble wrap that sort of thing x

[MessybutHappy]

Play with Mr potato head!

[kellyskidz!]

Yay! Great ideas as ever, glad we don't have to abandon this topic
Thanks xx