Year 1 Science Animals incl. Humans – Block 1AH –Ourselves

Session 6:Sensory boards and bottles
Science curriculum area(1AH): / Animals incl. Humans (1AH)
iv) identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which parts of the body is associated with which sense
Working Scientifically (KS1 WS)
- skills explored withhelp / Working Scientifically (WS)
i) asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways
ii) observing closely, using simple equipment
iii) performing simple tests
iv) identifying and classifying
v) using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions
vi) gathering and recording data to help in answering questions
Teaching Objectives /
  • Understand that we have five senses and that we rely on these to make sense of the world
  • Accept a challenge to produce sensory items for a local community group
  • Classify different stimulating items into sensory groups on a sensory board and in sensory bottles for a local community group
  • Send the board and bottles to the community and write a letter explaining the rationale behind them

Other curriculum areas / D&T
  • Design: design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria
  • Make: select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics
  • Evaluate: evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria

Key Vocabulary: touch, sight, smell, taste, hear, sensory
Resources
Making sensory boards and bottles resource, Letter from the playgroup resource, bottles, thick cardboard or wooden boards, small objects (interesting, maybe glittery, waterproof, safe) and materials with a variety of textures, sounds and colours for the sensory boards, strong tape, glue gun. / Weblinks
Information for adults on the human senses.
BBC Bitesize - The five senses.
Before the session: Collect small objects to put in sensory bottles (items need to be small, interesting, maybe glittery, waterproof) and items with a variety of textures, sounds and colours for the sensory boards. Arrange for the class to make sensory boards and bottles for a local community group, maybe the local baby group or preschool. Alternatively, you may want to use the letter from the playgroup in the session resources which asks the class to make a Sound Challenge and gives instructions for doing so.You may prefer to do this challenge if it isn't possible or practical for you to organise a sensory board for a real community group.
Whole Class: Sit the class on the carpet and review the learning so far. You may want to show them the Science Dictionary words from the previous sessions and see if they remember the activities that went with them and what they learned during each activity. Then tell them that a local community group would really benefit from exploring how their senses help them make sense of the world. Tell them that it is possible to design boards and bottles that are exciting and fun to look at and touch. Spend some time brainstorming the needs of the local group (if a preschool, ask an adult to come to talk to the class or ask a mother of a toddler to do the same). Explain that the boards and bottles will need to be safe at all times and so the bottles need to be sealed and the materials on the boards need to be firmly stuck and too large to swallow. Show the chn all the different items you have collected. In groups ask them to classify them into items suitable for their board and those they will put in the bottles. Give them a bottle and a board each (the session resource shows some examples of sensory bottles and boards and there are many more examples on the internet). The bottles need filling with water when they are completed and the cap sealed with strong tape.
Activities: Ask the more able children to design a 'map' of their sensory boards, with labels explaining why the group has chosen the different materials and what senses will be required. Ask them to consider the question: How would the board and bottles differ if they were being made for a different community group? Older group? Those with specific special needs?
Plenary / Tell the children that the boards and bottles are to be taken to the local community group and that they need to write a little letter to accompany them, explaining what they are about and why they have made them. Together, as a class, write the letter. Invite suggestions from the class whilst you scribe.
Outcomes / Children will
  • Understand that we have five senses and that we rely on these to make sense of the world.
  • Accept a challenge to produce sensory items for a local community group.
  • Classify different stimulating items into sensory groups on a sensory board and in sensory bottles.
  • Send the board and bottles to the community and explain the rationale and learning behind them.

© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.

We refer you to our warning, at the foot of the block overview, about links to other websites.