Chapter 02

My Amazing Body & My Five Senses

Kindergarten

Your body is an amazing machine, and it comes with five special senses that let you explore the whole world!

At a glance
Core ideaFive senses each rush messages from the world to your brain.
Key termSense — sight, hearing, smell, taste or touch, each with its own body part.
You can…Name which sense and body part notices a given thing.
Watch outTaste and smell team up — a blocked nose makes food taste boring.
1 Theory

Parts of my body

Point to each part as you name it: head (holds your brain and face), arms and hands (for reaching and holding), legs and feet (for walking and running), and your tummy (where food goes to give you energy).

My five senses

SenseBody partWhat it tells you
SightEyesColours, shapes, how far away things are
HearingEarsLoud, quiet, high, low sounds
SmellNoseSweet, stinky, fresh smells
TasteTongueSweet, sour, salty, bitter foods
TouchSkinHot, cold, soft, rough, sharp
2 Explanation

Senses are messengers to your brain

Each sense is like a little messenger. When your hand touches something hot, your skin sends a fast message racing up to your brain, which shouts "Ouch, pull away!" — and your hand moves before you even had to think hard about it. All five senses work the same way: they notice something in the world and rush the news to your brain, so your brain can decide what to do.

Try this

Close your eyes for ten seconds. Notice how much you now rely on hearing and touch to know what's around you. Your senses are always working together as a team.

3 Practical

Activity: the sensory guessing game

  1. Gather. Ask a grown-up to collect 5 safe mystery objects (like an orange, a cotton ball, a spoon, a flower, a cookie).
  2. Cover your eyes. Use a blindfold or just close your eyes tightly.
  3. Explore with touch and smell. Hold and smell each object — no peeking!
  4. Guess. Say out loud what you think each object is, and how you knew (was it soft? did it smell sweet?).
  5. Check. Open your eyes and see how many you guessed correctly. Which sense helped you the most?
4 Q&A

Test yourself

Q1 Which sense would you use to notice a loud clap of thunder?

Hearing — your ears pick up the sound and send the message to your brain right away.

Q2 Why does food sometimes taste boring when you have a stuffy nose?

Because taste and smell work together! A lot of what you think you "taste" is really your nose smelling the food. When your nose is blocked, that helper sense can't work, so food tastes less exciting.

Q3 If you closed your eyes while trying to catch a ball, would it be easy or hard? Why?

It would be very hard. Your eyes (sight) tell your brain exactly where the ball is and when to move your hands. Without sight, you would have to guess — which is much less accurate.

Concept mind map

How the ideas connect

Every key idea in this chapter, branching from the core concept — use it to see the whole picture at a glance.

eyes seeears hearnose smellstongue tastesskin touchesbrain is bossMy Body & Senses
Infographic

The key facts, visualised

5 senses
sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch
Eyes
sense used to see colours and shapes
Brain
gets messages from all the senses
Skin
the sense organ for touch, hot and cold
Solved examples

Worked problems, step by step

Follow each solution line by line, then try to reproduce it on paper before moving on.

Example 1Which sense do you use to enjoy music?

  1. Music is a sound
  2. Sounds go into your ears

Example 2You smell cookies baking. Which body part did the work?

  1. Smell is one of the five senses
  2. The nose is for smelling
Practice problem set

Now you try

Work each one out first, then tap to reveal the worked answer.

1What part of the body do you use to taste ice cream?
You use your tongue to taste sweet ice cream.
2Which sense tells you a stove is hot?
Touch, your skin feels that the stove is hot so you keep away.
3Name the five senses.
The five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
4Which body part is the boss of the senses?
The brain is the boss, it reads messages from every sense.
5How do your eyes help you?
Your eyes let you see people, colours and shapes around you.