Unit Theme: 5 Senses

Fun with the 5 senses this week!

Theme Verse

Psalm 34:8 - Taste and see that the Lord is good.

My Senses Fingerplay/Song

 

 5 Senses Books

 

There are also a lot of great books out there for each of the senses individually, but we just stuck to general 5 senses books for our short week.

Senses on the Farm by Shelley Rotner; The Five Senses by Keith Faulker; My Five Senses by Aliki, Senses in the City by Shelley Rotner

Mr. Potato Head

How cute are these guys?  Original inspiration came from Pinterest.  Mr. Potato head is the perfect guy to help us learn about our 5 senses!

Meredith's

Caleb's

 It Feels...

I found 6 items around the house, all with different textures.  The kids had to explore the textures, glue them to the hands on the paper and then tell me a word that described what they felt like.  The 6 items I used were: pine needles from the Christmas tree, felt, sandpaper, cotton ball, sponge, and dots of glue that I put on there the night before so they would be dry enough to touch.

 Meredith described the pine needles as "pine cone prickly plant", the glue dots as "bumpy", the felt as "soft", the sandpaper as "hard", the cotton ball as "soft" and the sponge as "bumpy."

 Caleb described the pine needles as "prickly", the glue dots as "bumpy", the felt as "fluffy", the cotton ball as "soft", the sponge as "bouncy" and the sandpaper as feeling like "salty pretzels". =)

Online Activity: Sense of Hearing

 I came across this website where the kids could listen to different sounds, and then identify what they were.

My Apple

 After enjoying a snack, Caleb & Meredith described their apples...

Meredith's - I see a RED apple.  I hear a CRUNCHY apple.  I feel a WATERY apple.  I taste a YUMMY apple.  I smell a COLD apple.

Caleb's - I see a RED apple.  I hear a CRUNCHY apple.  I feel a wet apple.  I taste a YUMMY apple.  I smell a SOUR apple.

In the Kitchen: Tasting & Smelling

 We talked about how our tongue has taste buds...and that when we taste something, those taste buds send signals to our brain about what that food tastes like.  We also talked about which parts of our tongue have which types of taste buds.  The kids tasted 4 different foods and then had to identify which type of taste they were, then glue them to their tongue diagram.

bitter - lemon peel, sour - lemon, salty - pretzel, sweet - marshmallow

 After their taste tests, they put their noses to work to smell various spices.  We talked about the different smells.  They agreed that the cinnamon smells the best!

This week, we also took a trip to the Shedd Aquarium...that was the perfect place to test out our senses!

  We got to see, smell, touch, and hear all sorts of things at the aquarium - some familiar and some new to us.  We didn't actually taste anything while there....other than our lunch. =)  Scroll down to a previous post  to see more pictures from our visit there.

38 Weeks

38 weeks comparison shots...

Left - Today; Top Right - 38 Weeks w/ Shane; Bottom Right - 38 Weeks w/ Meredith

My belly is definitely larger and rounder this time around.  Yikes.  Kris mentioned that in my 38 week picture with Shane, my belly looks a lot lower....he was actually born 1 day after that picture was taken.

I saw my doctor this morning....NST didn't pick up any contractions, though I am dilated to 1-2 cm.  No ultrasound, but my doctor does want to see me again on Monday.

My body definitely does not feel like it's going to have a baby any time soon.  I am feeling quite comfortable (more than I was weeks ago), and baby seems happy to hang out for a while longer.

The Shedd

Thanks to our good friend Scott, we were able to get free tickets to the Shedd Aquarium!  I had never been there, and neither had the kids....we were all very excited to check it out.  Kris even took the day off so that we could join us.  Unfortunately, due to a sick & feverish Shane, Kris ended up staying home with him and the big kids and I went to the museum on our own.  The day wasn't how we had originally planned it to be, but fun nonetheless.    

Since I wasn't allowed to use my flash near any of the animals, a lot of these pictures turned out a bit blurry and/or weirdly colored - I know that there's probably some sort of manual settings on my camera that could have worked better, but I wasn't sure what to do...will have to read the manual to figure that one out!  Anyway, here are some of the highlights of our day (though we saw many more things than what's documented here).

One of the exhibits focused on the coral reef in the seas surrounding the Philippine Islands, which was extra cool since that is where Daddy is "from"...

Checking out the coral being harvested...

Both kids loved all of the interactive computer stations each exhibit offered.

Meredith's favorite fishy - the "pink one".

 The Wild Reef...SHARKS!

Meredith loved walking on the glass floor above the stingrays...

...so much that she started crawling/belly crawling across it to be closer to the rays!  She kept saying "they're so cute!"

Biggest crab I have ever seen...it had to as big as Meredith!

Up close with to the Cuban Iguana.

Jellyfish!

We went to the dolphin show, which had an extra special Christmas-y component to it...very fun!

In The Polar Play Zone, the kids got to see sea otters, penguins, and more fish.  They also got to touch sea stars (no pictures of that, unfortunately, as I had to hold the kiddos over the water so they could reach in and touch them).  There was also a "touch pool" that the kids could play in.

They also got to dress like penguins and "play" like penguins!

Caleb's favorite part - the yellow submarine.

He quickly made friends and they transformed into the "crew" of the sub...

Posing for a quick picture before heading home...

Scott & Nancy - thanks again for the tickets!