Learning with the Five Senses

Young children need lots of multi-sensory activities. As an art teacher and parent I have learned to be aware of these things while teaching and creating lessons. There is always that one kindergarten student that decides to mix up ALL the colors because in his mind, no matter what you say, it is going to make a rainbow! Once they see that it makes a muddy brownish grey, they won’t do it again. They learn from their experiences! Much of the brain wiring and development during the first five years is centered around the way a child gleans information about their environment.
 Play soft music without words in the background
Give them different textures to feel, draw on sand paper!
 Let them touch the paint.
Add peppermint or vanilla extract to make the paint smell good! Add cinnamon to your play dough, spray the paper with something that smells nice,use shaving cream
Make sure there are lots of  colors in your class room
Let them build sculptures out of food and then eat them!
Shaving cream is a great medium to use because it makes your room smell good! They can draw in it, and practice writing their letters!


Just ask yourself…does it feel good? Is it slimy, crunchy, rough, sparkly?
These projects generate some awesome vocabulary!

Is it BIG?

Does it smell good?

Tasty!!?

Yesterday I let the girls draw on the mirror with shaving cream! They were so excited! First they used their fingers and then my daughter suggested a Q-tip which worked great!


They also wrote letters and numbers. Studies have shown that the letters are better committed to memory when written with something other than a pencil, like when they write in sand, a bag of gel, shaving cream, or anything that has great texture because it makes more connections to the brain!