Need some fun, hands-on ideas for sense-of-sight activities you can do with preschoolers at home or in class?
The best way for young kids to learn about their senses is to participate in rich learning experiences through play.
Here are 11 simple ideas.
1. Read & Discuss: Arlo Needs Glasses
Arlo Needs Glasses by Barney Saltzberg is an interactive picture book that introduces the practical topics of eye checkups and getting glasses to help with sight when needed.
Children who wear glasses can tell about their related experiences. Other kids could name friends and family members who wear glasses.
2. Arts & Crafts: Design Glasses
After reading Arlo Needs Glasses, give kids an opportunity to design their own glasses, either for Arlo or for themselves! Here are several options for a sense of sight craft:
- On a printed (or child-drawn) picture of Arlo or of themselves, kids use crayons and markers to add fancy eyeglasses of their own design.
- Many child-sized eyeglass templates are available online. Print them on plain paper or cardboard for kids to add their own designs and then cut.
3. Read, Discuss & Experience: It Looked Like Spilt Milk
It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw is a repetitive picture book that addresses the concept of visual perception.
Try reading the book outdoors on a partly cloudy day or moving outside after sharing. Kids can look for clouds in the sky that remind them of familiar objects.
4. Art: Design a Class/Family Book
Great kids’ books such as It Looked Like Spilt Milk can often lead to art activities.
After sharing this book and possibly viewing clouds in the sky, challenge the children to design pages for a new book.
They can cut or tear white printer or construction paper into shapes, then decide what real-life objects they look like.
Get kids to glue the shape onto dark blue paper to resemble the model book. Then write in the words for your kids by following the pattern established in the book.
Compile all the pages for a new class or family read-aloud!
5. Sing The Corner Grocery Store by Raffi
Share this fun song about things someone could think they see if they have forgotten their glasses!
Here are the lyrics:
There was cheese, cheese, walkin’ on its knees
In the store, in the store
There was cheese, cheese, walkin’ on its knees
In the corner grocery store
My eyes are dim, I cannot see
I have not brought my specs with me
I have not brought my specs with me
There were plums, plums, twiddling their thumbs
In the store, in the store
There were plums, plums, twiddling their thumbs
In the corner grocery store
My eyes are dim, I cannot see
I have not brought my specs with me
I have not brought my specs with me
There was corn, corn, blowin’ on a horn
In the store, in the store
There was corn, corn, blowin’ on a horn
In the corner grocery store
There were beans, beans, trying on some jeans
In the store, in the store
There were beans, beans, trying on some jeans
In the corner grocery store
My eyes are dim, I cannot see
I have not brought my specs with me
I have not brought my specs with me
There was more, more, just inside the door
In the store, in the store
There was more, much more, just inside the door
In the corner grocery store
6. Play: Blindfold Games
Make blindfolds out of old T-shirt material so kids can each have their own.
Taking part in various activities while blindfolded helps children focus on the importance of sight and their other senses in everyday life.
Play the classic Blind Man’s Buff game or try one of these variations.
Partner Block Building
One child is the guide while the blindfolded child is the builder. The guide gives step-by-step instructions on how to construct a particular type of building.
The blindfolded child does their best to build as directed, relying merely on hearing and touch.
Pin the Eyes on the Owl
One child is blindfolded at a time and attempts to affix the large eyes on the poster board picture of an owl.
For added group involvement, allow the other children to give oral directions to the blindfolded child, such as up, down, left and right.
Find the Animals
In pairs, one child is an animal of their choosing and the other child is the animal caretaker, who is blindfolded.
Indoors or outside, the “animal” makes noises fitting with their chosen creature, while the “caretaker” wearing the blindfold tries to locate them by relying on their sense of hearing.
7. Play: See Colours
Each child chooses a different coloured token. With a time limit, they are then tasked with collecting as many objects of the same colour as possible for their buckets from around the room, home or yard.
8. Exercise: Sunglass Stroll
Offer a wide selection of fun sunglasses for kids to wear on a neighbourhood walk.
Challenge them to pay close attention to things they see during the walk to dictate a list later. These could include various buildings, animals and things that grow.
9. Experiment: See Like a Pirate
Pirates are famously known to wear eye patches. Share the book The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon with your children. The little girl in the book experiences double vision and must wear an eye patch to see correctly.
Since most kids have single vision, how does wearing an eye patch affect their sight? Ask kids to predict and then let them try it while attempting to find toy gold coins hidden around the room.
Discuss the experience in circle time. Did things look any different while wearing the patch?
10. Experiment: Sight Station
After explaining each item’s use, offer a selection of sight instruments for kids to experience how they affect their sight.
Possibilities include magnifying glasses, binoculars, microscopes and old eyeglasses.
11. Experiment: Visual Memory
Build visual memory by showing children a selection of small objects on a tray and then covering them. Challenge kids to name as many of the objects as possible.
Discuss: why were some objects easier for certain children to remember than others?
Possibilities include colour/brightness, familiar/favourite object or comparative size.
Enjoy trying these sense-of-sight ideas and activities.
Here are more sensory station ideas to stimulate all the senses.
