The Five Senses - Lesson 7: Altogether, Now
ACTIVITY: We Need Five Senses
Objective
Students say that they obtain more information if they use more than one
sense to identify substances.
Materials
Five blindfolds; chart paper and marker
Five baby food jars, each containing one of the following: salt, sand, granulated
sugar, powdered sugar and cornstarch
Procedures
- Choose five volunteers who have not seen the jars containing the five substances.
- Seat the volunteers at a table, blindfold them and give each one a paper and pencil.
- Place one of the jars in front of each volunteer.
- Ask each student to feel the content of the jar and whisper it to the
teacher. The volunteers are not to taste what is in the jar, and they are not to say aloud
what they think it is.
- The teacher records the written responses on a chart.
- Rotate the jars one position to the right.
- Again have the volunteers feel the contents and whisper to the teacher
what they think the substance is. Record the results on the chart.
- Continue until each of the volunteers identifies all five substances using
only the sense of touch.
- Be sure the chart is where volunteers will not see it, and remove the
blindfolds.
- Place the jars in front of the volunteers in a different order from that of
step 4.
- Ask each volunteer only to look at the substance in the jar and whisper to
the teacher what it is. The volunteers are not to taste or feel the substance. They
are not to give their answers aloud, and they must not look at each other's
responses.
- Again rotate the jars, recording the responses of each participant.
- When all five substances have been identified by all five participants by
both touch and sight, let them use other ways to identify the substances. If they
suggest tasting, assure them that none of the substances is harmful to taste.
Discussion
How accurate were the responses from the sense of touch alone? From the
sense of sight alone? From a combination of these, and possibly with help from
the sense of taste? How do the senses depend on each other? How do all five
senses help us to know what is happening around us?
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