Touch and Spell

In honor of the sense of touch, I made these word cards for Eva to use to help her practice writing.  Given that she is only two, this is more for exposure than anything else, but she can write her name and she can read Mommy, Daddy and Woofer so I thought it can't hurt!  I wrote the words on pieces of card stock and then traced over them with glitter glue.  When they were dry, Eva was able to use her finger to trace over them and feel the texture.

Easy to make and they sparkle so they were an instant hit.

Five Senses Exploration Station

We have a new exploration station!  I placed items that allow Eva to explore four of the five senses in the area- I left out taste because I figured a little furry friend might enjoy that a little too much.  For seeing there are magnifying glasses, a paper towel tube to use as a telescope and a fun color puzzle game.

When we were at Home Depot over the weekend I grabbed a few of the paint sample cards and then cut between the colors.  Eva has to put them in order from darkest to lightest (or vice versa).  I thought this would be a little tricky but Eva breezed right through!

For the hearing area, I have a few musical instruments, Eva's drumming Snoopy toy and some medicine bottles filled with different things- beans, pasta, rice.  For touch there is a bag full of various fabric scraps  for Eva to touch and experience different textures.

Her favorite so far though is the smelling area.  I put cotton balls dipped in extracts in baby food jars.  Eva gets to open and sniff them to see what they smell like.  (It also works on the practical skill of opening jars!)

I made five- peppermint, vanilla, orange, raspberry and garlic.  She knew the garlic right off the bat!  (Eva loves anything with garlic!)  Because it was a little tricky for her to identify the smells without help, I drew pictures to coordinate with the smells on the paper.

This made it much easier for her to match the smells to their source.

To round out the station, I added a Five Senses puzzle I found in the Dollar Spot at Target a few weeks ago.

Our Five Senses

This week we will be exploring our five senses- hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching.
Crafts
Ears, Eyes, Nose, Hands, Tongue- we'll make a little body to show what parts we use for our five senses

Texture Collage- we'll use bits of different fabrics and papers to make a unique piece of art

Sensory Activities (there will be a lot given the theme!)
Five Senses sensory area- the exploration station will be full of fun activities to awaken our senses

See

color puzzles

magnifying glasses

Hear

sound shakers

musical instruments

Touch

bag of textures

Smell

smell and guess game

Taste Test- we will try familiar foods with our eyes covered to see if we can guess what they are

I Spy- what better game for seeing what's around us

Sound Walk- we'll take a walk through the neighborhood and listen for all the different sounds of the city

Texture Rubbings- objects will be hiding under a piece of paper- we'll touch them to see if we can guess what they are and then we'll use a crayon to make a rubbing to check our guesses

Cooking
Baking- what better way to awaken our senses than to bake!  We'll use our eyes to measure, our nose to smell, our hands to touch, our tongues to taste and our ears to listen for the timer.

Books