Exploratorium
Seeing Your Retina
Using a dimmed flashlight, life science learners can see the network of blood vessels that line the back of their eye. Darken the room and let them try this activity as part of your unit on the eyeball. Also consider some of the other...
Exploratorium
Whirling Watcher
Pupils put together their own stroboscopes so that they can observe how cyclically moving images appear to merge into a singular object. This, and several other activities published by the same source, illuminate the way the brain...
Exploratorium
Fading Dot
Fuzzy edges cause an image to fade from view in an activity intended to demonstrate how vision works.
Exploratorium
Thread the Needle
If you are setting up a rotation lab where learners are investigating vision at different stations, this activity can be used to explore depth perception. Setting up a giant needle eye, students attempt to pass a pencil through it with...
Exploratorium
Squirming Palm
You will need an electric drill and some Velcro™ in order to have this activity available for your class. It is, however, an intriguing display of optical illusion. After watching a spinning disk (provided), viewers look at one of...
Exploratorium
Depth Spinner
Put a new twist on your collection of optical illusion activities. Affix the linked printable spiral to a drill, record player, or some other rotating tool. Have learners stare at the spinning disk for only 15 seconds and then look away....
Hachette Children’s Group
Our Five Senses
Show your class how to experience their world with the five sense. With worksheets on each sense, learners investigate their surroundings and categorize them into sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste.
Curated OER
Looks Like Christmas: Exploring Sight
Students participate in various hands-on activities to determine what life is like without the sense of sight.
PBS
Blow the Roof Off!
Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics...
Smithsonian Institution
The Music of the Mardi Gras Indians
The traditions, costumes, and the music of the Mardi Gras Indians, African-Americans and those with African American or Native American Heritage are the focus of a unit that introduces class members to a little-known group that...
Curated OER
Rainbow milk
This activity explores the sense of sight, nutritional needs, and the importance of milk and dairy in our diet. Students discuss color mixing, surface tension and rainbow milk. Students actively mix three colors of food coloring with...
Curated OER
20/20 Vision
Students determine their own eyesight and calculate what a good average eyesight value for the class would be. They examine how technology enhances eyesight and how engineers play an important role in the development of these technologies.
Curated OER
Penny and Cup Game
Students perform activities to discover if one eye is better than two. They test their sense of sight with both monocular and binocular vision. Students drop a penny and see if it lands in the cup of water. They rely on their sense of...
University of Minnesota
Attention and Sensory Processing
Ever wondered how your brain manages all of the information it receives every second of every day? The sights, the sounds, the smells ... each one filed away for later use or moved to the front of the line so your body can react. Through...
Core Knowledge Foundation
The Human Body—Systems and Senses Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
Nine lessons over three weeks explore the human body through read-alouds. Third graders listen to and discuss a reading followed by extension activities, including word work and comprehension practice. Learners draft a narrative essay.
Curated OER
Vision Of The Future
Students investigate ways in which new vision tests and technologies can be used to help detect and correct vision problems. They begin by reading the Times article, Software May Replace the Eye Chart on the Wall. They stage a medical...
Curated OER
Anatomy of the Human Ear
Students examine the human ear and its function. In this anatomy of the human ear instructional activity, students view drawings of the ear and learn about the structure of the ear through handouts and glossaries. This instructional...
Exploratorium
Seeing Your Blind Spot
Viewers use a small, dimmed flashlight to identify the blind spot for both the right and left eye. It is a simple activity to incorporate into your activities during a lesson on vision and the structure and function of the eyeball.
Exploratorium
Far Out Corners
Construct a three-dimensional optical illusion when your class is exploring vision and how the eye and brain work together. Three concave corners are mounted inside of a black box, but as a light is shined upon them, they appear to be...
Curated OER
Engineering and the Senses
Students explore nutrition. For this nutrition lesson, students discuss a person's sense of taste and how it is different for each person. Students discuss favorite foods and how they relate to nutrition. Students cut out pictures of...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Five Senses: How They Relate to our World
Students explore the five senses and the significance of each sense. In this five senses and diversity lesson, students listen to You Can't Smell a Flower With Your Ear by Joanna Cole and take a walk observing opportunities to use all...
Space Race
Sensory Detectives
Test your learners' sensory awareness with three hands-on activities that ask pupils to use their other senses to identify and describe everyday objects hidden from sight.
Child Care Lounge
Learning Foundations Curriculum
Here is a collection of activities that complements each of the five senses. Youngsters explore textures, sounds in song, food tastes and aromas, colors and patterns, and a variety of experiences that boost...
University of Minnesota
Altered Reality
Fascinate young life scientists by showing them how their brain learns. By using prism goggles while attempting to toss bean bags at a target, lab partners change their outlook on the world around them, producing amusing results....