Summer is all about the warmer weather, beautiful gardens, and fun outdoors. Help your little ones take full advantage of everything summer has to offer by experiencing it with all five senses. By teaching our kids to appreciate all the 5 senses, we encourage them to look at life in different ways and develop a deeper appreciation for the things around us. In turn, as they grow with these skills, they will learn to approach new experiences with an even more open mind.
Consider these points to take a deeper look into the 5 senses:
- Sight - With this sense, focus on exercising their observation skills. Tell them to look closer and see what other details they can discover.
- Sound - You can discuss why sounds are important. For example, why is the bird singing, or what does it mean when you hear a car horn?
- Taste - Explore new tastes and learn about the different flavour profiles.
- Smell - Talk about why smells are important; they can lift our spirits or they can warn us of danger.
- Touch/Feel - This sense doesn’t just teach us about how we interact with the world but how we can understand how to take care of our bodies.
Scavenger Hunt Fun!
Print out this scavenger hunt and let them go exploring. They may not be able to do it all in one day and that’s okay! You can spread it out over a few days or a few weeks or the entire summer. When they’re done, talk about what they found and ask them to share their favourite things they experienced. They can draw or write about their favourite experience as a bonus learning exercise!
Grab the Scavenger Hunt Printable
Here are some ideas to do once you’ve completed your scavenger hunt:
- Draw a picture of your favourite summer experience.
- Write about which sense was your favourite way to experience summer.
- Make a list of all the things that were new experiences and then make a list of things you do every summer. Did you find a new favourite?
Use this activity as a base for getting those discovery questions going. For example, everyone loves the taste of bbq, but when you stop to think about how you feel when you see the smoke coming from the grill and you smell the food cooking, it just enhances the whole bbq experience. Try to see if you can experience the things of summer in a different way with your kids and see what they discover!
Related articles:
This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).