Your toddler typically satisfies her innate curiosity with sight and hearing, appearing oblivious to the remaining senses of smell, touch and taste. The world remains largely unknown to your toddler, who utilizes the five senses on an "as needed" basis to explore and understand the environment. Imagine the new opportunities for exploration that await your child when she connects with her sensory capabilities. Use everyday items and experiences to demonstrate how to discover the world with the five senses.
Step 1
Spread white glue on construction paper. Let your toddler sprinkle textured items such as salt, uncooked rice, sand, corn meal and herbs on the glue. Talk about how the items feel between her fingers and on the construction paper after the glue dries.
Step 2
Shake assorted coffee cans and oatmeal containers that you partially fill with items such as pennies, rice, cotton balls and paper clips. Let your toddler shake the containers and try to guess the contents.
Step 3
Place two small items on a tray, let your toddler look at the items for one minute and then cover the tray. Ask your child what she saw, add one item to the tray and repeat the steps until there are five items on the tray.
Step 4
Tell your toddler to close her eyes while tasting several foods and ask her to identify the foods sampled. Include favorite foods and less familiar foods. Talk about foods that taste sweet, salty, bitter and sour.
Step 5
Assemble several household items such as laundry detergent, rubbing alcohol, perfume and several food items. Tell your child to close her eyes and try to identify each item by its distinctive smell.
Things You'll Need
- Construction paper
- White glue
- Uncooked rice
- Salt
- Corn meal
- Sand
- Dried herbs
- Pennies
- Cotton balls
- Paper clips
- Coffee cans
- Oatmeal containers
- Tray
- Assorted foods
- Laundry detergent
- Rubbing alcohol
- Perfume
