B. Life Systems · Needs and Characteristics of Living Things

My Body and My Five Senses

B2.4 A1.2 A1.4 A1.5About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can point to and name main parts of my body and tell what they do.
I can name the five senses and the body part for each one.
I can explain how my senses help me learn about the world and stay safe.
I can use my senses safely in an investigation.

Words to know

senses
The five ways your body learns about the world: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching.

sense organ
The body part you use for a sense: eyes, ears, nose, tongue or skin.

heart
A strong muscle in your chest that pumps blood all around your body.

lungs
Two soft organs in your chest that fill with air when you breathe in.

brain
The organ inside your head that controls your body, helps you think and makes sense of what your senses tell you.

skeleton
All the bones in your body. It holds you up and protects the soft parts inside.

What's cooking?

You walk into the kitchen. You smell something yummy. You hear a sizzle in the pan. You see pancakes! You touch the warm plate, and then you taste the sweet maple syrup.

You just used all five senses! Your senses help you learn about your environment.

Maple syrup being poured over a warm stack of pancakes with butter on top. — Warm pancakes with maple syrup: you can see them, smell them, hear them sizzle in the pan, feel the warm plate and taste the sweet syrup. AI-generated image

The five senses

Your body has five senses. Each one uses a special body part called a sense organ.

Sense	Sense organ	It helps me...
👀 sight (seeing)	eyes	see colours, shapes, and where I am going
👂 hearing	ears	hear voices, music, and warnings like a fire alarm
👃 smell	nose	smell food, flowers, and danger like smoke
👅 taste	tongue	taste if food is sweet, salty, sour or bitter
✋ touch	skin	feel hot, cold, soft, rough, and if something hurts

The five senses and their sense organs

Each of the five senses has its own sense organ: eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.

Senses keep us safe

Your senses are like an alarm system!

Your ears hear a car horn, so you stop.
Your nose smells smoke, so you tell a grown-up.
Your skin feels heat coming from a hot stove, so you stay back.
Your eyes see the red light, so you wait to cross.

Main parts of the body

Your body has outside parts you can see and inside parts you cannot see.

Outside: head, neck, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, fingers, chest, stomach (belly), hips, legs, knees, feet and toes.

Inside:

Body part	Where it is	What it does
🧠 brain	inside your head (your skull protects it)	controls your body, helps you think, learn and remember
❤️ heart	in your chest	pumps blood all around your body
🫁 lungs	in your chest	take in air when you breathe
stomach	in your belly	starts to break down the food you eat
🦴 bones (skeleton)	all through your body	hold you up and protect your inside parts (ribs protect your heart and lungs)
💪 muscles	all through your body	move your bones so you can walk, jump and smile

Some important inside parts

Your brain is the boss

Your sense organs send messages to your brain. Your brain figures out what the message means.

Your ears hear a ring. Your brain says, "That's the doorbell!" Then your brain tells your muscles to walk to the door.

Your sense organs send messages to your brain. The brain figures them out and tells your muscles what to do.

Worked example

Let's investigate with our senses: the mystery sock

A grown-up hides an object in a sock. How can you find out what it is without looking?

Which sense will we use? Touch (and maybe hearing).
Put your hand in the sock. Feel it: Is it hard or soft? Smooth or bumpy? Big or small? Round or pointy?
Shake it gently and listen. Does it make a sound?
Make a guess using what you noticed: "It's hard, round and smooth, and it rolls... I think it's a ball!"
Take it out and look. Were you right?

We used touch and hearing to learn about the object. Our brain put the clues together to make a guess.

Just for fun

Riddle: What has lots of ears but can't hear a thing?

A field of corn! (An ear of corn is the part we eat.)

Worked example

Let's match body parts to jobs

You run fast in a race. Which body parts are working?

Your leg muscles move your leg bones so you can run.
Your lungs breathe faster to take in more air.
Your heart beats faster to pump more blood.
Your eyes see where to go, and your brain tells your body what to do.

Many body parts work together: muscles, bones, lungs, heart, eyes and brain.

Hands-on activity

Senses investigation station

You need: a grown-up, 3 small cups, foil, a pencil, and safe things from the kitchen (for example: an orange peel, a cinnamon stick or spice, and an onion or garlic).

Smell test: The grown-up puts each thing in a cup and covers it with foil. Poke a few small holes in the foil with the pencil.
Close your eyes. Sniff each cup gently. Guess what is inside!
Touch walk: Touch 5 things in your home (a towel, a window, a carpet, a spoon, a pillow). Say if each one is soft, hard, rough, smooth, warm or cool.
Listening minute: Sit still with your eyes closed for 1 minute. Count how many different sounds you hear.
Make a chart with a picture for each sense and draw one thing you learned with it.

Safety rules: Only taste or smell things a grown-up says are safe. Never taste anything you find outside or under the sink. Never look straight at the sun. Keep loud sounds away from your ears.

Your turn

Name the five senses.

Which sense organ do you use to hear?

Which sense organ do you use to touch?

Where is your heart, and what does it do?

A smoke alarm beeps. Which sense warns you? What should you do?

Point to your elbow, your knee and your shoulder. Which one bends your arm?

Which part of your body protects your brain?

More practice: warm-up

Which sense do you use to see a rainbow?

Which sense tells you that lemonade is sour?

Which body part do you use to smell?

What do your lungs fill with when you breathe in?

Point to your toes. What part of your body are they on?

More practice: on your own

Which two senses would you use to know that popcorn is ready?

What do your muscles and bones do together?

Why does your heart beat faster when you play tag?

Your hand touches a hot mug. What does your brain tell your hand to do?

How can you learn about a snowflake using 3 senses? (Do not taste anything from the ground!)

Challenge

If you had a cold and your nose was stuffed up, food might not taste as good. Why do you think that is?

Name 3 body parts that are working when you eat an apple.

Some people cannot see or cannot hear. How might other senses or tools help them learn about the world?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which sense organ do you use to taste?

What does your heart do?

Which body parts help you breathe?

You smell smoke in your house. Which sense helped you?

Which body part controls your body and helps you think?

Which is a safe way to use your senses?

What do your bones do?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Children learn the location and job of major body parts, including the sense organs, and how the senses help them learn about and stay safe in their environment.

About body-part names: This science lesson focuses on major external parts, the sense organs and a few important internal organs. Grade 1 Health and Physical Education separately teaches children the correct names for all body parts, including genitalia. If your child asks about other body parts, it is appropriate to use the correct names simply and matter-of-factly.

Common difficulties:

Thinking we only touch with our fingers. Skin all over the body senses touch, heat and cold.
Mixing up heart and lungs. Put a hand on the chest after jumping: "Feel your heart pump. Hear your fast breathing? That's your lungs."
Safety: Reinforce that tasting and smelling in investigations happens only with an adult's OK (A1.4).

How to help: Play "Simon Says" with body parts ("Simon says touch your elbow"). At meals, ask which senses your child is using. The mystery sock and smell cups are simple investigations (A1.2) that children love to repeat.