Exploring Food with the 5 Senses
Help young children explore and embrace new foods.
Invite children who express an interest in food to join in this activity.
Click here to get the PDF of the activities and the Crunchy Rainbows recipe.
Swipe the carrousel below to preview our free, fun and educational activities to get children to explore food with their 5 senses.
Invite children to look at foods using a magnifying glass. Use foods that you already have, rather than buying extra items. Once your little detectives have observed the food items carefully, question them about the food's texture, colour and shape.
Invite children to do a sampling activity using plain yogurt as the base. Ask them to guess the flavour when ingredients are added. Try adding strawberries, apple sauce, banana, cinnamon or vanilla.
Find an empty tissue box or a paper bag. Gather foods with interesting textures and shapes such as a piece of cheese, kiwi, broccoli or a slice of bread. Put food items in the box or bag and ask children to take turns describing and guessing what they are touching.
Put various herbs and spices in small, empty spice jars. Cover with paper or masking tape so the contents are hidden, making two identical sets of jars. Put the first set on a table and present the second set to the children. Ask them to find the corresponding jars on the table based on the scent.
Allow children to sample various foods and have them describe the sound as they eat. Here are some fun examples to get you started: Biting an apple: "crunch", Eating soup: "slurp", Taking a drink of milk: "glug", Chewing on cheese: "squeak", Eating a carrot: "chomp".
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5 sensesNumber of Activities
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