Sensory Popcorn
Your child will practice using and talking about all five senses (i.e., seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching) through observation of microwave popcorn.
Learning Area(s): Language and Communication; Science
MATERIALS
- Unpopped popcorn kernels (to pop in the way your family prefers, for example using an air popper, microwave, or stovetop)
- Large bowl
- Paper
- Pencil
LET'S PLAY
Explain to your child that you are going to use popcorn to practice using all five senses. Remind your child of what the five senses are (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching), or introduce them if the idea of “five senses” is new to your child. You can explain the five senses by saying something like: “There are five different ways that we learn about what’s around us. We can see with our eyes. We can hear with our ears. We can smell with our nose. We can taste with our mouth. And we can touch with our hands. These are called our five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.”
See what ideas your child has about her senses. For example, you might ask: “What do you like to taste? What can you hear when you’re outside? What do you smell when I’m cooking dinner?”
Next, on a piece of paper, draw an eye, an ear, a hand, a nose, and a tongue to represent the five senses. Alternatively, you could draw a person with these features.
Next, you can pop the popcorn in the way your family prefers, for example using an air popper, microwave, or stovetop. As the popcorn is popping, encourage your child to use all five senses to tell you about what is happening. What does she hear? What does she see? What does she smell? When the popcorn is ready, put it into a bowl and eat it together. What does the popcorn feel like when you touch it? How does it taste?
As you talk about her observations, record them on the paper by writing the words by the body part that goes with that sense. Your child might like to add to the picture by drawing popcorn. After you finish the picture and your popcorn snack, see if your child can remember all the five senses without looking at the picture!
TIPS
- While popping popcorn, supervise your child closely and be careful to protect her from hot steam, oil, or flying popcorn kernels. You may want to review safety rules for using these devices before starting the activity.
- When describing sensory experiences, help your child build vocabulary by using words that go beyond “it tastes good” or “it smells bad.” Think about words that describe flavor, texture, temperature, odor, shape, etc. You can also make comparisons to other things, such as “it looks like…, it’s hotter than…, it’s smaller than…”
- You can try many variations on this activity with different kinds of foods. Use foods that have interesting smells, tastes, and textures, and talk with your child about these sensory experiences as you cut them open, cook them, or eat them. You can also compare how the foods are alike or the same and how they are different from each other
