- Science
- Classes 1-2
- 3 min read
Our five senses
Discover how your eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin help you see, hear, smell, taste and touch the world.
Let us begin
The big idea
You can see a rainbow, hear a bell, smell a flower, taste a laddoo and feel a soft blanket. You do all this with your five senses. Each sense has its own part of the body.
Eyes help us to see. We use them to see colours, shapes and light.
Ears help us to hear. We hear sounds like music, birds and our friends talking.
The nose helps us to smell. A nose can tell us that food is cooking or that a flower is sweet.
The tongue helps us to taste. It can tell if food is sweet, sour, salty or bitter.
The skin helps us to touch and feel. It tells us if something is hot, cold, rough, smooth, hard or soft. Our senses also keep us safe. We smell smoke, hear a horn and feel a hot cup. Take good care of your eyes and ears.
Worked examples
See how it works
Which sense do you use?
To see a kite in the sky, you use your eyes. To hear its string go zing, you use your ears.
Eating a lemon
You see the yellow colour with your eyes. You smell it with your nose. You feel its rough skin with your fingers. You taste its sour juice with your tongue.
Keeping safe
You smell something burning in the kitchen. Your nose warns you, so you tell a grown-up at once.
Try it at home
Mystery bag
You will need
- A cloth bag or a pillow cover
- A spoon, a sponge, a cotton ball, a pebble, a small toy
- A friend or family member
What to do
- Ask a grown-up to put four or five small things into the bag without showing you.
- Close your eyes. Put your hand in the bag and feel one thing.
- Say if it is hard or soft, rough or smooth, big or small.
- Guess what it is. Then take it out and look.
- Now swap places and let your friend guess. Which sense did you use?
Ask a grown-up: Choose only safe, soft or smooth things. Leave out anything sharp, tiny enough to swallow, or dirty.
Fun fact
Your tongue can taste sweet, sour, salty and bitter things.
Practice sheet
Check what you learned
Practice sheet: Our five senses (Classes 1-2, Science)
- Which part of the body helps us to see?
- Which part helps us to hear?
- Which part helps us to smell?
- Which part helps us to taste?
- Which part helps us to feel touch?
- Name the five senses.
- Which sense tells you that the milk has gone sour: smell or hearing?
- You pick up an ice cream. Which sense tells you it is cold?
- Name the four tastes your tongue can find.
- Why is it good to have a sense of smell when food is burning?
Answer key
Answers: Our five senses
- The eyes.
- The ears.
- The nose.
- The tongue.
- The skin.
- Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
- Smell (and taste too).
- Touch, with the skin.
- Sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
- The smell warns us early, so we can tell a grown-up and stay safe.