The Five Senses: The Sense of Touch

Mr. Broom is complete! He got his sense of touch today! 

Isn't he handsome?  He is well loved and has quickly become a celebrity in our classroom.

Here is an up close look at his hands: VERY simple and homemade.  Maybe that is what the children love about him. Who knows?! (That's what I am telling myself anyway- it is probably because they feel so sorry for the way he looks!  :) 

I hot-glued different textures to each finger so the children could also feel them.

One of the first questions was, "Where are his feet?"  This was actually great- because we talked about how all of our skin can feel things, but that we use our hands to feel most things because our fingertips are more sensitive than other parts of our bodies. 

We started our lesson by reading The Sense of Touch, by Elaine Landau.

 

This was the day my camera decided to stop working.   It was actually ok- because the activities are easy to explain. I just like adding some pictures to make it more fun!

  

I made feely bags for our circle activity.  I just used brown lunch bags, except for the ice and cooked spaghetti. I put a ziplock baggie inside the brown bag for those!  I always think I am going to get more sturdy bags for this, because the bags usually rip a little just from the children reaching inside.  Next year!:)

 

In my bags, I had:  a pompom, a superball , a golf ball, a screw driver, ice cubes, a candle, a stone, cooked spaghetti, a comb, and a marshmallow.    I took several of the bags around and the children reached in, and nodded when they thought they knew, so I could continue on.  We only did about four at one sitting.  They were so excited to do more, that we did a couple before buses were called.  (I was sure to do the ice cubes early in the game.  :)  The were so good about reaching in and not peeking.  I show them how I can peek in and know the answer, and it isn't even fun anymore!

 

I had one student come up and put on a glove before he reached into the bag.  He couldn't tell the golf ball from the super ball because he didn't have his fingertips to help him feel. 

You can also use a sock for this.

 

 

 

We talked about how some things can change how they feel.  The ice cube can go from a freezing cube to water.

Brownie batter is a fun because it starts as powder, then is more liquid as you add ingredients, and finally becomes a solid brownie. 

 

 

We play a game where the children turn to a partner and draw a shape on the partner's back so the partner has to guess the shape.  We tried letters, but shapes work best.  Letters were tricky!

I told them they had to be sure to "erase" after they drew a shape and started a new one. They all loved that part!

We did a quick interactive writing where we made a list of soft things like: my chair cushion, Kayla's baby brother's cheek, lamb's wool, a puppy's ear, cotton balls, my soft furry jacket, a pillow.  We listed rough things. My favorite rough thing was 'the blacktop' because one of my little guys just fell down on it outside! We listed a few  hard things, sticky things, and bumpy things (for which of course, someone said, "Braille!"- yay!) 

 

 

To tie this back to our quest for kindness, we talked about our "Warm Fuzzies" and how they feel soft and fuzzy- and make us feel warm and happy on the inside.  "Cold Pricklies" are not kind and make you feel cold and prickly on the inside. This is a different type of "feeling."  Everyone got a "Warm Fuzzy" to remember to be kind. 

 

We drew and labeled our five favorite things to touch, and watched our videos on The Five Senses Prezi to review the sense of touch.

 

 

Next, we will have our Five Senses Party!

 

Thank you for visiting!

Happy Teaching,

Carolyn