Happening Parents

The 5 Senses – Hear, Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch

Sense of Hearing: 

Besides listening to city sounds like cars, trains, busses, motorcycles, excavators or tractors, you can bring your child to the zoo to listen to the various animal sounds.  A good example would be Old Macdonald’s Farm by Winnie Soft Book  Publishing (www.winniebook.com) is a large soft book meant for young children who love to press the various animal pictures and hear the sound they make.

Tim is now at an age where he enjoys imitating the sounds he hears. For example, he enjoys “barking” or “mewing” each time he sees a dog or cat.  Lately,  he has even started imitating how his grandfather and daddy snores.

Sense of Sight:

Do encourage your child to not only observe his surroundings but also to look as far as possible.  This helps to improve their eyesight. 

Jazz brings Tim for walks and he is always very excited to see buses and MRT trains.  He also likes gazing at the moon and the stars in the sky.

Pat plays “I spy with my little eye” games with her kids at the park.  They love being the 1^st to spot a squirrel in the tree, a camouflaged iguana or mousedeer at the fragile forest in the zoo or a even the helicopter / plane in the sky.

 Sense of Smell: 

You can let your child smell different fragrances such as flower, body lotions / bubble baths, rain or food aroma.  E.g. Jasmine flowers, frangipani flowers, coffee, tea leaves, freshly baked bread, cheese, durian, strawberries, mangoes, fish, etc.  Be mindful on the type of fragrances you let them try as some perfumes and flowers with a lot of pollen (like the Lily) can cause your child to sneeze.

Dorling Kindersley has a Scratch-and-Sniff range of books that Raphael & Arielle love!  In their party book, they get to scratch and sniff grape bubblebath,  vanilla cake, mint sweets etc.

 Sense of Taste: 

Allow your child to explore different food tastes and textures.  Example:  Sweet, sour, bitter, spicy (you may want to hold off the very spicy chilies for very young children).  For healthier options, you can try giving the kids

• Honey or sweet fruits like grapes instead of sugar or sweets,
• Lemon, lime or grapefruits,
• A sliver of red cabbage, frissee lettuce or bittergourd,
• Mildly spicy snacks such as curry puff or samSosa .

Sense of Touch: (Min 3 people to play.)

The blindfolded person is to touch the eyes, ears, nose, mouth or hair of the other person and identify who he/she is. 

Place a variety of textured (soft, hard, rough, smooth, slippery, grainy, powdery) materials in a soft bag.  Get the child to put their hand in to feel the item, describe and identify the item if possible.  Let the child take out the item to see if they are right.

The Touch-and-Feel range of books by Dorling Kindersley (DK, for short) are a very useful compilation of books that promotes the sense of touch.  The series covers a wide variety of books ranging from animals (Wild animals, farm animals, Pets) Construction, Toys, Home, Fire Engines, etc.