How do you know what’s around you?
You are always learning about the world. You see a red apple. You hear a dog bark. You smell cookies baking. You use your senses to take in information. Your brain puts it all together so you understand what’s happening.
The five senses
| Sense | Body part | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Sight | Eyes | Colours, shapes, size, light and movement |
| Hearing | Ears | Sounds: loud or soft, high or low |
| Smell | Nose | Odours: flowers, smoke, food |
| Taste | Tongue | Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savoury |
| Touch | Skin | Hot or cold, rough or smooth, hard or soft |
How each sense works
- Seeing: Light goes into your eyes. Your eyes send a message to your brain, and your brain tells you what you see.
- Hearing: Sounds travel through the air as tiny shakes called vibrations. Your ears catch them.
- Smelling: Tiny bits of things float in the air. When they go up your nose, you smell them.
- Tasting: Your tongue is covered in taste buds. They tell you if food is sweet, salty, sour or bitter.
- Touching: Your skin is your biggest body part. It can feel heat, cold, pressure and pain.
Senses keep you safe
Your senses warn you about danger.
- Your nose smells smoke from a fire.
- Your ears hear a car honking.
- Your skin feels that a pot is too hot, so you pull your hand away fast.
- Your tongue tastes that milk has gone sour, so you don’t drink it.
Senses work together
Smell and taste are best friends. When you have a stuffy nose, food doesn’t taste as good. Try holding your nose while eating an apple. It’s harder to tell what it is!
Other body functions
Your body has other important jobs too:
| Body part | Job |
|---|---|
| Brain | Thinks, remembers and controls your body |
| Heart | Pumps blood around your body |
| Lungs | Breathe in air |
| Stomach | Breaks down food |
| Bones | Hold you up and protect your insides |
| Muscles | Help you move |
Animal senses
Some animals have super senses.
- Dogs can smell thousands of times better than people.
- Owls can see in the dark.
- Bats use sound echoes to find their way at night.
- Snakes "taste" the air with their tongues.
Taking care of your senses
- Wear sunglasses in bright sun.
- Keep music at a safe volume.
- Never put anything in your ears.
- Wash your hands to keep germs off your skin.
Common mistakes
- Thinking you see with your eyes alone. Your brain helps you understand what your eyes take in.
- Forgetting that skin is a sense organ.
Try it yourself
- Close your eyes. Have a grown-up hand you three objects. Use touch to guess what they are.
- Make a "mystery smell" test with cinnamon, lemon and coffee.
- Sit outside quietly for two minutes. List everything you hear.
Quick recap
- The five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
- Eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin are the sense organs.
- Your brain makes sense of what you sense.
- Senses help keep you safe.
- Your heart, lungs, stomach, bones and muscles all have important jobs too.