Family and Homeschool Activities: Writing with the Senses

These family and homeschool activities are designed to complement the Writing with the Senses topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Getting a Sense of the Senses

Have your child take notes on two different places using his or her senses. Try to go to two very different locations, such as a bustling part of a city and a park or quiet wooded area. Encourage your child to write details about what she or he sees, feels, hears, smells, and, if possible, tastes. Your child may want to close his or her eyes in order to concentrate on what she or he senses. Then help your child brainstorm adjectives that she or he could use to describe the two places. How are the places alike? How are they different? Finally, help your child write short sentences that describe each place.

Appreciating the Senses

Expose your child to new sensory experiences. For example, watch a silent movie with your child and discuss the similarities and differences to movies with sound. You can also listen to an opera or classical music and discuss the different instruments and sounds you and your child hear. Together with your child, taste new or exotic fruits and vegetables and describe them. Go to a fabric store and feel different textures from rough wool to smooth silk. You can also go to a bakery or a restaurant and describe the smells there or go to a flower shop and compare the scents of different plants.

The Search for Senses

Create sensory riddles that describe a specific item in your home. For example, you might write “I am soft, fuzzy, and blue and keep you warm at night” to describe a blanket. Have your child find the item which can then have another clue that leads to a different item and so on. To extend the activity, your child can write riddles for you to find.