The five senses
Our senses help us to learn about the world around us.
We have five main senses:
- Hearing
- Sight
- Smell
- Taste
- Touch.
Watch – The five senses
How we use our five senses.
Your senses.
Touch. Your skin gives you a sense of touch. So even when you're not looking, you can tell if something is soft and warm, or smooth and cold. In fact, your skin is so sensitive, it can automatically help you warm up. Or cool down. What will your skin feel today?
Sight. Your eyes are specially designed to see what's around you. They make sure you can see things that are very close, and far away. But they need plenty of light to do it. Hey! And sometimes they need a little extra help to make the picture even clearer. What will your eyes see today?
Smell. Your nose is specially designed to detect smells. It can tell the difference between nice smells, yum, and nasty ones, eww. What will your nose smell today?
Hearing. Your ears are specially designed to hear what's going on around you. Even when you're hearing lots of things at once, your brain is very good at recognising different sounds. Your ears can hear sounds that are very quiet and they're always working. Even when you're asleep. Good morning. MORNING! What will your ears hear today?
Taste. Your mouth and tongue, give you your sense of taste. So you can instantly tell what tastes bitter from what’s sweet. Everybody knows the tastes they like, and the ones they don't. But flavours can be combined in different ways to create new and surprising tastes. What will your mouth taste today?
Fascinating facts
We have five main senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch.
Some humans are colour blind, which means that some colours look different to them than they do to other people
The human eye has six muscles.
A dog's nose can detect smells much better than a human nose… up to 100,000 times better.
Adult humans have between 2000 and 5000 taste buds.
No two people have the same finger prints.
Your tongue is actually a muscle.
Humans feel touch through their skin, which is the largest organ of the body.
What are the senses?
Image caption, Touch
Touch allows us to feel different things. It is sensitive to temperature and to texture.
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Did you know?
The human eye can see around 10 million different colours.
Despite their much better sense of smell, dogs cannot see as many colours as humans can.
Birds have very good eyesight and can see many more colours than humans.
Important words
Hearing – Using our ears to identify objects based on the sounds that they make.
Senses – Humans have five senses that help us to learn about the world around us.
Sight – Using our eyes to identify objects based on what they look like.
Smell – Using our nose to identify objects based on what they smell like.
Taste – Using our mouth and tongue to identify foods based on their flavour.
Touch – Using our skin to identify objects based on how they feel.
Activities
Activity 1 – Find the body parts
Tap on the body parts which are used for your senses.
Activity 2 – Quiz
Activity 3 – Talking about the senses
Play Galaxy Pugs. game
Help the pugs observe Earth’s animals, learn how to grow plants, study the human body, experiment with materials and much more!
More on Animals including humans
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