Learning about the 5 senses is an exciting thematic unit for young learners as they are curious about the world around them and use their senses to explore and learn. These Sense of Sight Activities will make learning so much more fun.
Sense of Sight Activities
Creative Space
Play dough, stamps, scissors, lacing beads and cards, puzzles and blocks are set out for the children to choose from, and get creative during this 30 minute period.
Sense of Sight Circle Time
Everyday during Circle Time we do the morning routine, which includes the Calendar and ‘Number, Color, Shape and Letter of the week’. We then read a story, sing a few songs and do a group activity.
On every Monday we change the ‘Classroom Helpers’ Classroom Jobs. Each child has a name card on a popsicle stick, and they get to choose their job of the week.
Sense of Sight Circle Time Activities
Activity 1: Weekend News
Every Monday morning each child gets a chance to talk about their weekend and what they did. The children then draw a picture in the ‘weekend news’ journal, and the teacher writes down what they have said.
Activity 2: Word Cards & Pocket Chart Sentences
Laminate and cut out the sentences. During Circle Time, put all the sentences in order on the word wall. Point to the words as you and the children sing the ‘Brown Bear Song’
Activity 3: My 5 Senses Walk
Give each child a ‘My 5 Senses Walk’ printable and take them for a walk outside. Sit quietly somewhere. Children see how many of the objects on the paper they can see and color the happy face next to each if they can see, hear, touch, taste or smell the object and the sad face if they can’t.
Activity 4: I Spy With My Little Eyes …
Play ‘I spy with my little eyes, something that begins with (a)’. You can do it in different variations e.g. I spy with my little eyes, something that is round that you can see, but not hear (a clock). Ask volunteers to ask their classmates a few questions too.
Activity 5: Fruit Salad
Children sit in a circle. Going clockwise, give each child an animal name (use 4 different names) for example bear, horse, frog, sheep, bear, horse, frog sheep. Now say ‘I see a bear’. All the bears have to run and switch places with each other.
Sense of Sight Songs
Ten action songs all about the Sense of Sight, to get those bodies moving and grooving. Click on the image to head over to the post.
Sense of Sight Booklist
Thirteen of the best story picture books that are perfect for the Sense of Sight theme. Click on the image below to read what these books are about.
Sense of Sight Literacy Activities
‘Brown bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?’
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? by Bill Martin Jr., is the perfect book to kick the week off. It covers colors and the repetitive sentences is a great way to get the children that speaks English as a second language more confident.
The words can be switched with the children in the class’s name and they can reply with anything that they can see. For example: ‘Kiara, Kiara, what do you see?’; ‘I see a blue table, next to the window’ etc. It’s also a great book to do some fun extension activities on.
Activity 1: Brown Bear Sequencing
Read ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?’ or watch the song here. Show children the word cards and on the whiteboard put them in the correct order. Give each child a pre-prepared strip of paper (about 3 inches wide and 20 inches long). Children color the animals on the sheet the same colors as in the book, cut these out, and paste them in the same order as the book on the strip of paper. Sing the song again while children point to the animals on their strips of paper.
Activity 2: Brown Bear Role Play
Read the book again. Ask children to choose a picture of an animal, color it, cut it out and stick a paper straw on the back. Children use these stick puppets to re-tell the story.
Activity 3: It Looked Like Spilt Milk
After reading the book (you can also watch the read-aloud on YouTube here), we talked about all the cool shapes clouds can make and the different shapes the kids have seen before.
Each child then got a blue sheet of paper (B3 size) and used cotton wool and white paint to paint the outline of a cloud. After these dried, they stuck it onto the ‘It Looked Like Spilt Milk’ Class Book Template (which you will find in the free lesson plan) and the TA and I wrote what each child saw.
The children Love looking at their very own handmade story book!
Activity 4: Spin & Color Center
Cut out, laminate and assemble the spinner. Children take turns to spin the spinner. Children color the animal the spinner lands on, on their coloring sheet. Continue until the coloring sheet is completed.
Sense of Sight Math Activities
Teddy Bear Counters Centers
Teddy Bear Counters are one of my favorite Math manipulatives, and I thought it would be a great ad-on to this unit, seeing that we did the Brown Bear book. I created 6 centers that can be used throughout the year, and that also goes perfectly with this topic.
Color Sort:
Place a tray full of teddy bear counters in front of each child and let them sort the counters according to their colors on the sorting mat.
Pattern Cards:
Give each child a set of the pattern cards and a tray of teddy bear counters and ask them to complete the patterns by placing the correct colored bears on the white spaces.
Grab & Count:
Place a tray full of teddy bear counters in front of each child. Ask them to first grab a handful with their left hands and place it on the teddy bear on the left and then repeat with their right hands. They then count and record how many teddy bears there are on the mats altogether.
Roll & Cover:
This game can be played in pairs, small groups or individually. Children take turns rolling the teddy bear dice and covering the same colored teddy bear on their ‘Roll & Cover’ mats. The first one that covered all the teddy bears wins.
Number Cards 1 – 20:
These cards can be used in a million different ways. Children can put the same amount of teddy bears on each number card, or they can put the cards in order from 1 – 20 and then place the same amount of teddy bears in a row underneath each card.
Addition Cards:
Each child gets their own addition mat, a tray full of teddy bear counters and a dice. They throw the dice, place the same amount of counters on the first teddy bear, and record the number. Repeat for the second teddy bear. When they are done, they add and record how many teddy bears there are altogether.
Other Sense of Sight Math Centers
Center 1: M&M’s Graphing Center
Children sort the colors, complete a pictograph, record the amount of each color and then eat the M&M’s.
Center 2: Math Worksheets
Sense of Sight Art Activity: Brown Bear Hand Print Book
Another fantastic extension activity on the book ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?’ is this handprint animals book. Depending on the amount of time you have, each child can make their own book, or each child can choose one animal and then all the pages can be assembled in a class book. Click on the image below to download the printable book.
Sense of Sight Science Activity
Science is always one of the best parts of the week. We did a very cool Rainbow Skittles experiment and a Vision experiment that I found over at 123Homeschool4Me. Please go over to their page to find step-by-step instructions.
For the very simple Skittles experiment all you need is a pack of Skittles, a white plate and some water. Place the Skittles around the rim of the plate and pour in water (just enough to cover the skittles halfway). Then watch as a magical rainbow appears!
Phonics
Phonics is taught in order from A – Z and we spend the first semester on learning all the letter sounds. The second semester is spent on Word Families and Sight Words. We learn 2 letter sounds a week through songs, crafts, centers, cut-and-paste activities, tracing & coloring. This week we will learn about the letters Ii & Jj.
Monday: Letter Introduction
Every Monday, the teacher introduces the letters of the week. We watch the Jolly Phonics Letters I & J songs and do the actions, then listen to the Bounce Patrol letters I & J songs. Afterwards, we play the letters Ii & Jj games on Starfall.
The teacher then shows the children the word cards and ask them to name the pictures and to place it under the correct letter on the word wall.
Tuesday & Thursday: Letter Crafts
Tuesdays and Thursdays are reserved for Letter Crafts. The children all love these.
Click on the images to download Letter Crafts A – Z
Wednesday: Tracing Letters and Beginning Sounds Centers
Friday: Beginning Sounds Sorting and Cut-and-Paste
Find the whole weeks printables, centers, activities and lesson plan in one convenient pack by clicking on the image below.
