Children will use some of their senses to try to guess what item is inside some “mystery bags.”
Learning Area(s): Science; Sensory and Art
MATERIALS
- Brown paper bags (or other bags that your child cannot see through)
- Items that your child can use her nose, ears, or hands to explore, such as orange slices, leaves, pinecones, a bar of soap, sand, bells, etc.
LET'S PLAY
Prepare for this activity by placing one type of mystery item into each bag, out of sight of your child. Introduce the activity to your child by saying, “Today I have some special things in some mystery bags. Do you know what the word mystery means? A mystery is something that you don’t know and you want to figure out!”
Point to the bags as you explain, “You are going to figure out what’s in the bags without looking. You can use your nose to smell, your hands to touch, and your ears to hear, but you can’t look! Do you think you can figure out what my secret items are without looking?”
Show your child each bag one at a time. Without letting her peek inside, encourage her to smell the item, reach her hand in to touch the item, and shake the bag to see if the item makes any noises. After she has used these three senses, let her make a guess about what she thinks is inside the bag. If she is right, celebrate with her! If she doesn’t guess correctly, take the item out of the bag. Let her see it, touch it, smell it, and listen to it while you tell her what it is and describe what it looks like, feels like, smells like, and sounds like.
TIPS
- Make sure items in the bags do not have sharp edges and are safe to touch.
- Once your child has some practice with this game, she may want a turn to find something to put in a bag and have you use your senses to guess what it is! Be sure to give your child some guidelines for choosing appropriate objects to put into the bags.
- For older children, use the word “senses” and explain to them what this word means. We have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Our senses help our brain learn about the world around us.