What your Preschooler will Learn:

- What the five senses are

- How to use their five senses to identify an object

- That they don't just need sight to identify an object

- What parts their body their senses are linked to

What you will Need to Teach the Five Senses:

- Colored sugar in a shaker

- A blindfold

What To Do to Teach the Five Senses:

Step one: Blindfold your preschooler. If the blindfold scares them, tell them to close their eyes super tight. Don't let your preschooler see what you're doing or what you've got.

Step two: Shake the sugar within in the shaker so they can hear it. Ask if they hear anything. Then ask them what they hear out of. If they're old enough, see if they can guess what you've got.

Step three: Pour some of the sugar into their hand. Have them rub it between their fingers. Ask how it feels. Explain that their skin is what they touch with. See if they can guess what the object is.

Step four: Have them smell it. Be careful with this one, you don't want them to inhale the sugar. Depending on their sense of smell, they may or may not be able to smell anything. Ask them what they smell with and see if they can guess what the object is.

Step five: Have them taste it. They should like the flavor and older ones will be able to tell you it's sugar. Ask them what part of their body they taste with.

Step six: Take off the blindfold and have them see what the object is. Explain that sight is the last of the five senses and ask what part of their body they see with.

Step seven: Go over with them how they used their senses one at a time to identify the sugar.

Variations:

You can use anything in your pantry or fridge for this science activity - use your imagination! Try using salt, herbs (parsley, oregano, rosemary, mint), cereal, and fruit slices. See how many things your preschooler can guess using their senses other than sight.

Hi! I'm Theresa Halvorsen, the preschool science and nature writer for Preschoolrock.com. I have twin boys and am blown away by their fascination with preschool science and how the world works around them. I am always looking for fun and simple science activities so preschoolers can learn about science and the natural world. Please contact me with any suggestions, ideas or questions you have about this site.

Helpful Tips for Parents

• The best science projects are the ones children generate themselves by noticing something in the world and asking why. Adult-imposed experiments are valuable; child-generated experiments are extraordinary.

• Safety first: always supervise, taste-test nothing, wash hands after experiments. Model good safety habits — goggles, careful pouring, cleanup. Safety habits built in preschool persist.

• Always ask "What do you think will happen?" before running an experiment. Prediction is the core of scientific thinking, and preschoolers' predictions are always worth hearing.

• Repeat experiments multiple times. Reliability — the same result happening consistently — is a key scientific concept, and repetition gives preschoolers the proof they find satisfying.

Frequently Asked Questions

At what age can preschoolers do science experiments?

Simple science exploration begins in infancy — dropping objects (gravity), banging surfaces (acoustics), mouthing materials (texture and taste). By age 2, children engage meaningfully with water play, sand science, and simple mixing experiments. Between ages 3–5, children can follow simple experimental protocols: predict, observe, record, and discuss results. The scientific method — hypothesis, experiment, conclusion — is accessible at age 4 with appropriate support. The best preschool science is the child's own curiosity, not a formal curriculum.

My preschooler loses interest in the experiment before it's done. What do I do?

Most preschool attention spans support 5–15 minutes of structured science activity. Design experiments with quick visible results — the baking soda + vinegar reaction, the pepper + soap demonstration, the oobleck — rather than long-waiting experiments as a first experience. Save multi-day experiments (crystal growing, plant sprouting) for when the child has developed patience and the routine of checking daily has been established through previous successful experiments. End an experiment early rather than forcing continuation — a positive incomplete experience invites return more than a forced completion.

Related reading: See also our weather science and our bubble experiments for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🏗️ Engineering Thinking — Testing structures, materials, and designs to see what works develops engineering intuition — the practical understanding of forces, materials, and design that underlies all physical construction and problem solving.
• 📝 Recording & Documentation — Drawing what they observe, recording measurements, and noting results gives children their first experience of scientific documentation — and connects science to literacy and numeracy in an authentic context.
• 🔍 Observation Skills — Paying close attention to what happens during an experiment — noting colors, textures, movements, and changes — builds the observational precision that all scientific and analytical work requires.
• 🔬 Scientific Method — Even a simple experiment teaches the predict-test-observe cycle that is the foundation of scientific thinking — and preschoolers who internalize this process approach problems with genuine scientific confidence.

Does your preschooler use their five senses or even know they exist? Most preschoolers use their sight primarily, followed by their hearing. But preschoolers can learn to investigate the world around them using all five of their senses. Here's one fun and easy science activity you can do to teach your preschooler how to use their senses.