5 Senses Sorting Mats

The 5 senses are one of my favorite subjects to teach because it sparks so many fun discussions. As children learn about sight, sound, taste, smell and touch, they become much more aware of the world around.  These playful 5 senses sorting mats are great to use for review at the end of a 5 senses unit like this favorite one! 

For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep journal to record results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I simply printed and cut apart the cards. You can also laminate for extra durability.

I purposefully made the cards four to a page so they would be big enough for little hands to hold.

Once I printed the sorting mats, we were ready to play!

5 Senses Sort

To start, we did a quick review of the body part we use to learn about each sense. We talked about how we use our mouth to taste, our ears to hear, our nose to smell, etc.

Then, we shuffled the deck of body parts and grabbed the card on top: eye.

A volunteer confidently placed the eye on the “see” mat and then grabbed the next body part in the pile.

The activity prompted lots of discussion about why we use that body part for that sense.

After sorting the body parts came the real fun!

Students selected an object card and explained why they use a certain sense to learn about it. We had great discussions about what was the best fit.

When a volunteer grabbed the rainbow, for instance, he pointed out that he can’t touch, smell, taste, or hear a rainbow, but he can SEE one which is why “see” was the correct answer.

Students continued sorting the picture cards into the correct mats until everything was in the right spot.  The 5 senses sort was complete!

5 Senses Extension Ideas

I included blank cards so you can have students add their own pictures and sort them!

And, as a fun follow up, you could have students play a quick round of memory. Just line the cards up in two rows and have students select a picture from each row until they find a match!

Easy peasy review!

Grab Your Set

Click the blue download button below to snag your free 5 senses sort!  Then, want more science fun!? Check out our 30 Science Experiments that kids will love in our shop!