Build a Jar: The Five Senses

How do you use your five senses every day? Today we’ll make a jar to use all five senses and better understand how they work!

 MATERIALS:

  • Worksheet attached here

  • 1⁄2 cup of water

  • 3 drops of food coloring (or 1 spoonful of olive oil)

  • 5 drops of aromatic scents (ex. vanilla extract, peppermint oil, essential oils, general spices like turmeric or ginger)

  • 3 spoonfuls of juice/citrus flavors (ie. lemon, orange juice)

  • 4 tiny rocks (or beads/charms)

  • Handful of rice (or sand/leaves)

  • 1 spoonful of dish soap

TIME ESTIMATED:

15 minutes

DIRECTIONS: 

  1. Find an open and clean space either indoors or outdoors to set up your materials. Put down a table covering on the surface you’re using.

  2. Optional: Decorate your jar!

  3. Fill out the worksheet and then add your ingredients to the jar.

  4. Add sound materials (rocks/beads/charms) to the jar.

  5. Add water to the jar (as the base).

  6. Add sight materials (food coloring/olive oil) to the jar.

  7. Add smell materials (aromatic scents) to the jar.

  8. Add touch materials (rice/sand/leaves) to the jar.

  9. Add taste materials (juice/citrus flavors) to the jar.

  10. Add dish soap and stir with a spoon or shake the bottle.

THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST!

  1. What was your favorite sense and why?

  2. In your life, when and how do you use your senses?

  3. If you had to lose one sense, which one would you choose?

HOW DOES IT WORK? 

There are five main senses in our body: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Each of these senses have a different purpose in our body and for the way we interact with the world. Think of a train— you can generally hear the train long before you see it; this is your sense of sound working! Now, I want you to think about doing an arts and crafts project at school. When you use glue, does it have a weird smell to it? That is your sense of smell working! Similarly, when you are using the glue, do you sometimes get it on your hands, and do your fingers feel weird and start to stick to each other? That is your sense of touch working! Finally, when your teacher asks you to go find something in the classroom. you are using your sense of sight!

FURTHER EXPLORATION: 

All of your senses have a daily impact on your life, like when you look for something, color, listen to your teacher, and more. Because of this, your five main senses are very important. This is why we want to teach you about them! For this project, you used different items that represent and activate each of your senses in order for you to better understand how much your body works without you even noticing.

Anticipated COncerns:

Students may struggle to stay organized while mixing materials without spilling, and may struggle to include the materials in their jar in the correct order.

Looking for more fun at-home STEM activities for your young scientist? Check out our workbook full of exciting science experiments and empowering activities! 

Learn more and purchase today!