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Home » Activities » 10 Fun 5 Senses Activities for Sight & Hearing

10 Fun 5 Senses Activities for Sight & Hearing

This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure .

I don’t often “plan a unit”. Recently I attempted to do so by learning about the eye. We hit a few items on the list, but I opted to place the unit on the eyes on the back burner.

Honestly, my son just didn’t seem interested in the activities. I was a bit heartbroken but I wasn’t going to force him to do the 5 senses activities.

Young children are amazing. Adults don’t realize the information they soak into their developing minds. Lessons plans are not always required for kids to learn about the world.

Truth bomb. I was wrong about being interested in learning about the eyes. The issue was that I came at it from the wrong angle and didn’t appeal to my son’s nature.

5 Senses Activities for Kids

5 senses activities are intriguing to children and in many cases are great for sensory development.

Teaching Empathy

Out of nowhere, my son asked me: “Mama, so if people couldn’t see, it would be like they’re blindfolded? Would it be dark? I would have to use my hands to know where I was going? How would I get around?”

My son is – by nature – a lover. He cares deeply about the things and the people in his life. As a side note, knowing this quality embodies my son makes it easier to understand that his behavior during meltdowns isn’t part of who he is. So, I know how better to speak with him about the meltdowns.

Teaching Empathy through Five Senses Activities

I remembered one of the books we checked out from the library would be a perfect conversation starter on these questions. So, I promptly dug out Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart by Lesa Cline-Ransome. Her husband, James Ransome, created the artwork that earned him the Coretta Scott King Award.

The book perfectly illustrates the journey of Helen Keller by writing her story with rhythm and song. The words gracefully tell us about Keller’s relationship with her teacher and depict a world quite opposite to what was most likely going on in her mind during that time. The juxtaposition of her struggle with the sweet, peaceful telling of the story is powerful.

Sense of Sight Activities

The book teaches lessons about empathy and gives us a taste of the world without seeing or hearing, to experience the world through smell, taste, and touch.

Ripe for activities with young children, my son led me in his learning about what it might be like to have to use your hands to experience and communicate with the world.

Five Senses Activities for Kids

The Sense of Sight & Hearing Activities

  1. Mystery Bag
  2. Go on a blindfolded walk by yourself in your home and then in your yard
  3. Go on a blindfolded walk with guidance from a friend (great trust-building activity)
  4. Sense of taste activities are loads of fun for kids. Describe the taste of various foods with the eye shut. These activities are a variation of Montessori’s Tasting Bottles lesson.
  5. Go on a Listening Walk. Was it hard for you? How did it make you feel?
  6. Go on a walk with earplugs & blindfolded. What do you notice? Was it scary? Frustrating?
  7. Close your eyes and have someone write letters on your palm. Can you tell me what he is writing? This is a wonderful pre-reading activity!
  8. Make Smelling Bottles and identify with and without a blindfold
  9. Practice the Silence Game
  10. Paint Blindfolded. Maybe our favorite art activity!

Sensorial Lessons

Sensorial Activity - Heavy and Light

Montessori Sensorial Variations & Extensions

Sensorial Materials for Toddlers

Montessori Sensorial Variations & Extensions for Knobbed Cylinders & Color Tablets

Montessori Sensorial: Mystery Bag

Montessori Sensorial: Knobless Cylinders

Montessori Sensorial: Color Tablets Lesson

Montessori Sensorial: Sound Cylinders

Montessori Sensorial: Rough and Smooth Touch Tablets

Montessori Sensorial: Thermic Bottles

Montessori Sensorial: Thermic Tablets

Montessori Sensorial: Baric Tablets

Montessori Sensorial Activity with Rough and Smooth Boards

Montessori Sensorial Lesson: Geometric Cabinet

Simple Montessori Sensorial Lesson Using a Fabric Basket

Learn the Montessori Sensorial Sequence of Lessons

Rectangle Box Montessori Sensorial Lesson

Red Rods - Learn Montessori Sensorial Lesson

Tasting Bottles: Montessori Sensorial

[Montessori Lesson] Pink Tower - Sensorial Activity

Baric Cylinders Lesson: Montessori Sensorial

[Montessori 101] An Introduction to Sensorial Theory

How to Present a Montessori Brown Stair Sensorial Lesson


Tagged With: Preschool, Sensory

About Marnie Craycroft

Marnie hails from Maine where she spent summers buried in sand and winters buried in snow. She is the daughter of a nearly four decade veteran of the public school systems. Teaching has always been a part of her life. She founded Carrots Are Orange in 2010.

Carrots Are Orange is a Montessori learning and living website for parents and teachers.

Marnie graduated from Wesleyan University in 1999 with a BA in Economics. She spent nearly a decade working in investment management. In 2006, she earned her MA in business from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

Marnie moved to the west coast in 1999 and currently lives in Boulder with her husband and three sons. She is Montessori trained. Her work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, Buzzfeed, PBS Kids, BabyCenter, the Melissa & Doug blog, Huffington Post, and WhattoExpect.com. Besides writing, passions include running (usually after her three sons), photography, and outdoor adventures.

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