What are the five senses?
You smell the popcorn kernels as they heat up, then you hear the pops as they burst. You see the kernels turn into white, fluffy pieces of popcorn. Once they have cooled and are ready to eat, you reach into the bowl and touch the bumpy popcorn with your fingers. You lift several pieces to your mouth and enjoy the salty, buttery taste of your afternoon snack.
We use our five senses to experience the food we eat, and to observe the world around us in many ways!
Your five senses include sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. You see with your eyes. You hear with your ears. You smell with your nose. You taste with your tongue (and with some help from your sense of smell), and you are able to touch because of nerve endings in your skin and body parts.
Our five senses are extremely important! They allow us to experience the world, and they also protect us. For example, the smell of smoke can warn us that fire is nearby. Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin are key body parts when it comes to the five senses, but you would not be able to take in the world around you without another very important body part: your brain! After all, it's the brain that processes the sensations you experience. That's right, your brain makes sense of them!
Further Information
Some people do not have all of their five senses. For example, there are people who cannot see and people who cannot hear. These individuals learn to rely on their other senses to experience the world. For example, a person who cannot hear may use the sense of sight to read the lips of others who are talking, or to view hand gestures and signs (called sign language) in order to communicate.