Teach your students about the sense of touch with these fun sense of touch activities. They will get to learn and explore the world around them with hands-on activities.
9 Fun Sense of Touch Activities
- Describe How It Feels
- What’s In The Box
- Describe & Guess
- Draw Something __
- List of Feel Words
- Categorize by Feeling
- Poky Little Puppy & Touch
- Guess How It Feels
- Touch Scavenger Hunt
Describe How It Feels
Show your students a picture of something. Then have them tell you how they think it feels. Different animals would be a good option, or items that they aren’t familiar with.
Example:
Mrs. Gibson has just showed Marcus a picture of a giraffe. Now he is describing how he thinks it feels. “The giraffe looks like it might be a little bit soft. But it might also feel rough. I think it would feel kind of leathery.”
What’s in the Box
You will need a large box with two holes cut on each end. Have it positioned so the students can not see what is in the box. They will stick their hands into the two holes and feel what is inside of the box. They must guess what it is just by feeling it. For this age of students, make sure none of the objects could be scary for the children. Let them know they will not be touching anything that could be disturbing. Some of the objects you can use are a stuffed animal, shoe, book, pencil, cup, and other common items. Each student should have several different items to try to guess. As they are guessing, have them describe how the objects feel. If necessary use words such as soft, rough, and smooth to give them ideas of what words to use.
Example:
Mrs. Gibson puts an apple in a box and has Olivia feel of it. Olivia sticks her hands in the side of the box. She feels something round, smooth, and hard. At first she thinks it might be a ball, but as she feels of it, she realizes it’s not perfectly round. Then she feels the stem. “It’s an apple,” she correctly guesses.
Interested in fun sense of smell activities? Check out these 8 activities.
Describe & Guess
On several slips of paper, write the names of some different items. Have one student take one of the slips of paper and begin describing how the item feels. The other students will then guess what it is based on how it feels. If after describing how it feels, the other students haven’t guessed yet, then the student can give some other clues about what it is. Whoever guesses correctly then gets to take a turn describing one of the items on the pieces of paper.
Example:
Laura has drawn a slip of paper with the word blanket on it. Now she is describing how a blanket feels. She says, “It is something very soft.”
“A bunny,” Joey guesses.
Laura shakes her head. “When I wrap it around me, it feels warm and cozy.”
“A blanket?” Marcus guesses.
“Right!” She hands the bowl of papers to Marcus, so he can have a turn describing something.
Draw Something ___
For this activity, you will give your students an adjective related to the sense of touch, and they draw something that feels like the word you gave them. Each student could have their own word, or they could all have the same word.
Example:
Joey’s word is smooth, so he drew a table. Laura’s word is rough, so she drew a rock. Marcus’s word is soft, so he drew a baby chick. And Olivia’s word is hard, so she drew a door.
List of Feel Words
Have your students make a list of words related to the sense of touch. The students could each make their own list or they could work on it all together or in groups. If they want an extra challenge, they could race against each other or have a time limit.
Example:
All the Gibson children are working together and racing the clock. They have five minutes to think of as many feel words as they can. So far they have 11 words: touch, feel, hand, smooth, soft, rough, hard, uneven, bumpy, hot, and cold.
Categorize by Similar Feeling
Give your students a list of items and have them divide them into groups, categorizing them by how they feel. Items that feel similar will be in the same group.
Example:
Olivia and Joey have a list of 20 words to categorize. They put notebook, door, table, whale, and window in one category because they are all smooth. In the rough category, they put sandpaper, rock, tree, mountain, and starfish. They put wall, sea shell, clock, airplane, and desk in the category of things that are hard. And in the soft category, they put teddy bear, pillow, rabbit, flower, and socks.
The Poky Little Puppy & the Sense of Touch
Teach your students other fun sense of touch activities with the children’s classic story The Poky Little Puppy. They will enjoy the story and then doing the accompanying activities and crafts in the activity guide.
Guess How It Feels
Tell your students an item that they are familiar with and have them describe to you how it feels. Encourage them to use as much detail as they can.
Example:
Mrs. Gibson has told Joey to describe how a dog feels. So he says, “A dog is soft and furry. He feels nice to pet. His ears are usually softer than the rest of him. His tongue is rough when he licks me. And his claws and teeth are sharp.”
Sense of Touch Scavenger Hunt
Give your students a list of things to find based on how they feel. Then, in the schoolroom or outside, have them look for different things that fit those descriptions.
Example:
Olivia is supposed to find something soft. She sees the curtains on the window and writes down curtain. Joey is looking for something rough. When he sees a rock, he writes that down. Laura and Marcus both put a book for something that is smooth.
Conclusion:
These fun sense of touch activities will get your students thinking about how the things around them feel. They will learn more about exploring the world around them with their sense of touch.
Do you have any other fun sense of touch activities that your students enjoy doing? Share them with us in the comments below, and they might just get added to this post!
