OVERVIEW
Students will explore their senses, experience how information is
gathered by different senses, and discover how our senses provide
essential information about the outside world.
BACKGROUND FOR EDUCATOR
Everything we know about the world comes to us through our senses. Our senses of vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste
provide essential information about our environment, such as potential danger and availability of food. Different regions of
our brains work together to process and create meaning from this fl ood of sensory data. This is how we understand what
we see, hear, touch, smell and taste.
BEFORE YOUR VISIT
Activity: Explore Our Senses
Part 1: Mystery Bag
Prepare the mystery bags ahead of time (one bag for each group of four
students). Each bag should contain different items that require students
to use their different senses to identify them. These could be scented
objects like candles, round heavy objects like rocks or potatoes, or
objects that make noise when rattled, like a bag of pennies.
Begin the activity by reviewing the fi ve senses (vision, hearing, touch,
taste, and smell) with your students. Then distribute the mystery bags. Have your students explore the bag
in stages, using only one sense at a time (smell, hearing, touch) to fi gure out what’s in the bag. Ask them to work in silence
and to record their observations during each stage.
Ask students to share how their senses helped them fi gure out what was in the bags. Ask:
• What was challenging about this activity? Why?
(Answers will vary. The purpose of this activity is for students to become aware of how much we rely on our vision and
how when we do not have it, we use our other senses.)
Part 2: Senses We Use Everyday
Now that students are aware of their di erent senses, have them work in groups of two or three to make a list of the
senses that they would use or rely on when they are doing the following activities:
• walking in the dark and in daylight
(Answer: in the dark will rely on sense of hearing, touch, smell, and taste rather than
vision. In the light would rely on vision more than hearing.)
• swimming or playing under water
(Answer: would rely on vision, touch, hearing, and taste rather than smell)
• playing in the park
(Answer: would rely on vision, hearing, smell, and touch rather than taste)
• watching television
(Answer: would rely on vision and hearing)
• playing your favorite sport
(Answers will vary slightly but accept all answers.)
Explore Senses & the Environment
amnh.org/brain
BRAIN: The Inside Story
Activities for Grades K–5
© 2010 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
NYS Science Core Curriculum
LE 5.2c: Senses can provide essential
information (regarding danger, food, mates,
etc.) to animals about their environment.
Plan how your students will explore
Brain: The Inside Story
using the student
worksheets. You might choose to have students
work in groups of two or three as they explore
the exhibition.
Distribute copies of the worksheets to students
before coming to the Museum. You may want
to review the worksheets and the map of the
exhibition with them (and their chaperones) to
make sure they understand what they are to do.