UNIT 5
Food Is Sens-ational

Grand Ideas

I can enjoy food with all of my senses.

The preschool years are a time when children begin to use their senses to identify and enjoy many foods. By the age of two, many children are able to identify certain foods by their shapes and colors. Young children need the opportunity to explore foods using their five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. Exploring foods with their senses helps children learn to identify and group foods that are alike.

Teacher Know How

Preschoolers are beginning to develop an understanding and knowledge of the world around them. These curious, eager learners gain knowledge by thinking, discovering and experiencing new things. The ability to use the senses (sight, smell, sound, taste and touch) is needed for maximum mental development. Nutrition education, with its exploration of foods and cooking experiences, provides excellent opportunities for children to use their senses.

Head Start teachers can help children learn visual, tactile and odor discrimination by exploring foods in the ways identified by this unit. For example, through the sense of sight children learn to identify, sort and group foods based on other characteristics such as color, shape or size of the food item. Children can also associate descriptions, such as soft, hard, rough, smooth or round with foods by using the sense of touch. Odor discrimination, such as sweet, fresh, sour or spoilt smells is an important concept in identifying foods as well as food handling and safety. Children can also practice identifying and discriminating food tastes and sounds. Learning to identify and describe tastes, such as sweet, sour, bland, bitter and salty adds a new dimension to eating and helps build language and basic mathematic skills. Listening for the sound that a food makes when chewed also helps children to enjoy foods.

Learning to identify and describe foods using the senses enables children to develop basic
fundamental skills that can be applied elsewhere. In addition, by exploring foods using all of the senses, children can learn to enjoy and accept a variety of foods. Using their senses to sort and group foods also teaches children food selection skills.

A wide variety of books are available to teach children about the five senses. Many of the lessons in this unit list books and audiovisuals that can be used to further explore and reinforce the concepts taught in this lesson. The books listed can be usually found in Head Start classrooms and school or local libraries.

Objectives

Children will explore a variety of foods using their senses.

Children will group and discriminate between a variety of foods by using their senses.
 
 

Food Adventures
To Know and Learn

Children will explore a variety of foods with their senses by smelling, feeling, seeing, tasting and listening to foods in a Treasure Chest. Children will practice reasoning skills by trying to determine which food is in the Treasure Chest.

Materials Needed

Sens-ational Play on page 5-4
Mr. Sens-ational Puppet picture on page 5-25
Treasure Chest (for example: oatmeal box, brown bag, shoebox, or basket) a variety of food items (for example: cucumber, apple carrot, popcorn, raisins, hot dog, rice, noodles, potato, cracker, crouton, peanut, banana, onion, orange, pretzel)

knife
crayons or felt tip markers
scissors
sleeve or sock (optional)
paper (optional)

Directions

A. To Make the Treasure Chest

A Treasure Chest can be made by cutting an opening in an oatmeal box, brown bag or shoebox just large enough for a small hand to reach in to touch the mystery food. A sleeve or sock with the toe cut out can be attached to the opening so that children cannot see into the box or bag. The Treasure Chest can be decorated with felt, paper or other items to make it look like a pirate's treasure chest.

To increase the excitement of the activity, teachers may want to dress like a pirate by wearing an eye patch and a bandana on their heads. If a basket is used instead of a box or bag, teachers may want to dress like Little Red Riding Hood by wearing a red cape.

B. To Use the Treasure Chest

Cut out the Mr. Sens-ational Puppet picture on page 5-25 and color him orange using a crayon or felt tip marker. Cut out the finger holes. An orange (plastic or real) could be decorated with eyes, nose and mouth can be used instead of the puppet on page 5-25.

Read and act out the Sens-ational Play on page 5-4 to the children. Give the children an opportunity to answer the questions asked by Mr. Sens-ational.

Discuss the play with the children. Ask them to describe how they can use their senses to enjoy foods when they eat. For example, hold up an apple and explain how they can:

see an apple's shape and color
feel the apple's smooth skin
smell the apple
hear an apple crunch when eaten
taste, the apple,

Place one food in the Treasure Chest being careful that the children do not see the food.

Pass the Treasure Chest around the circle of children and ask them to feel the food and describe how the food feels.

Have them smell the food through the hole.

Have them shake the Treasure Chest and describe the sound it makes.

 

After the food has been passed around the circle, ask children to describe how the food feels, smells and the sound it makes when shaken. Ask the children to try to identify the food in the Treasure Chest.

Remove the food from the Treasure Chest and pass it around the circle to let the children feel, smell and see the food.

Ask the children to describe the food using words such as:

feel--hard, soft, smooth or fuzzy
smell--strong, sweet, fresh or sour
sight--round, flat, square, triangular, red, blue,
brown, white or yellow

Cut the food into bite-size pieces.

Let the children look at the food before and after it has been cut. Ask these questions:

Is the food the same color on the outside and inside?

Does the food look different after it has been cut into smaller pieces?

Let the children feel the food. Ask them whether the food feels the same after it has been cut into smaller pieces.

Let the children smell the food. Ask them whether the food smells the same after it has been cut into smaller pieces.

Let the children taste the food. Ask them to describe how the food tastes. Use words like sweet, bland, sour, salty and bitter to describe taste. Does food taste the same when you cannot smell it? Have the children hold their noses, taste the food, then repeat the questions.

Let the children listen to the food being chewed. Ask them to describe the sound the food made
when it was chewed. Use words like crunchy, noisy, whispering and quiet to describe sound.

This book can be used to help children learn more about their senses:

My Five Senses (Aliki, T. Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1962).

This lesson can also be used to summarize this unit after the individual senses have been explored in separate lessons that follow.

Food For Thought

Based on the discussion of the senses, determine whether children need more practice describing foods by using certain senses.
 

SENS-ATIONAL PLAY
One, two, three, four, five alive!
(hold up 1,2,3,4 and 5 fingers)
Hello boys and girls, how are you today?
(pause for answers)
I hope that you are feeling sens-ational today!
I know that I am feeling sens-ational.
I am sens-ational today because of the way you see me.
(point to eyes)
How would you describe my look?
(pause for answers)
I look round. I am colored orange. People see the real me
when they see me with their eyes.
I am also sens-ational Because of the way I feel.
(point to hands and fingers).
How would you describe my feel?
(pause for answers)
I feel smooth. I also feel firm or hard. People feel the
real me when they use their fingers and hands to touch me.
I am also sens-ational Because of the way I smell.
(point to nose)
How would you describe my smell?
(pause for answers)
You can smell me with your nose. You might say that I
smell sweet or fresh. (And noses always know.) People can
smell the real me by smelling me with their noses.
I am also sens-ational because of the way I sound.
(point to ears)
How do I sound when you chew me?
(pause for answers)
You can use your ears to hear the sounds I make when I am
chewed. "Ssh-ssh" is the quiet sound I make when I am
chewed. I like to whisper. This makes me different from
popcorn, which is very noisy. People hear the real me when
they use their ears to hear the sounds I make when eaten.
I am also sens-ational because of the way I taste.
(point to mouth)
How do I taste?
(pause for answers)
Mmmm good. You can taste
the real me by using your mouths.
When you eat me the taste is sweet. This makes me
different from other foods like limes and milk.
One, two, three, four, five alive!
(hold up 1,2,3,4 and 5 fingers)
You can talk about any foods by using these five keys.
Use the senses to see, feel, smell, hear and taste foods.
Then you will find other foods that are sens-sational.
 
 
Sounds Good To Me!
To Know and Learn

After hearing The Crunch Hunch story, the children will know that they can use their ears to enjoy foods. This lesson will help children learn to discriminate and group foods according to the feel of foods and the sounds they make when chewed.

Materials Needed

The Crunch Hunch story on page 5-6

food and story pictures on pages 5-26--5-28
flannel board, bulletin board, blackboard or wall
glue or tape
crayons or felt tip markers
scissors
Mmm Applesauce picture recipe on page 5-32 (optional)

Directions

Color and cut out the food and story pictures on pages 5-26--5-28.

Have children sit in a circle. Describe the different sounds that foods make when you eat them. Use words like crunchy, loud, crispy, whispering and quiet to describe sound.

Read The Crunch Hunch on page 5-6. Have the children participate by acting out the words and making the food sounds: To practice, one group of children could make all crunchy sounds and another group could make all soft sounds. Glue or tape the food and story pictures to a flannel board, bulletin board, blackboard or wall to illustrate the story.

After the children have heard The Crunch Hunch, talk about the sounds foods make when we eat them. Ask the children to answer the following questions:

What foods did the rabbit eat that were crunchy foods?
(carrot sticks, celery logs, popcorn, and pretzels)

What are other foods that sound crunchy when we eat them?
(apples, crackers and toast)

What foods did the rabbit eat that 'were quiet or "ssh-ssh" foods?
(cheese, yogurt, oatmeal and sandwich)

What are other foods that are quiet or "ssh-ssh" foods?
(ice cream, milk, orange, banana, egg and bread)

Talk with the children about the importance of eating crunchy, quiet, soft and hard foods everyday.

Children can prepare the Mmm Applesauce picture recipe on page 5-32 to learn how foods can feel and sound differently when we eat them. For example, a raw apple is crunchy and hard, while applesauce is quiet and soft when eaten. The lesson, Food Fantasies (on page 5-14) expands on the concept that foods change when cooked.

The song, John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith, and the following books can be used to further explore the sense of sound:

The Noisy Book (M. W. Brown, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1939).

Sh-hl Listen Again (J. Victor, The World Publishing Company, 1969).

Rain Makes Applesauce (J. Schew and M. Bilecka, Holiday House, 1964).

Food For Thought

Based on the discussion, determine whether children need to practice describing the way foods sound when they are eaten.
 
 
 

THE CRUNCH HUNCH
There was an old rabbit who lived in a shoe,
(point to shoe)
He thought about his teeth. He needed them to chew.
(point to teeth, pretend to chew)
So he thought and thought about his good set of choppers,
(smile and point to teeth)
Boy oh boy, with them no one could fool that hopper.
(shake head)
Carrot sticks, celery logs, crunch right along,
that rabbit could eat those crunchy foods all day long.
(pretend to chew)
On pretzels and popcorn he crunched until lunch,
he loved those crunchy foods so much.
(rub tummy)
But, he thought, I like soft foods too,
soft foods like cheese, and yogurt too.
(point to teeth)
Ssh-ssh is the sound that this rabbit makes,
at every meal of oatmeal or a sandwich he takes.
(put finger to mouth and make ssh-ssh sound)
This little rabbit uses his teeth to chew,
(point to teeth)
He loves crunch crunch foods and the ssh-ssh foods too!
(pretend to eat)
 
 
Foods That Bend Your Ear
 
 

 

To Know and Learn

Children will learn about different foods that sound crunchy when chewed by listening to the poem, Celery Can Talk, and tasting crispy vegetables.

Materials Needed

Celery Can Talk poem, see below
Vegetable Cut-Ups picture recipe on page 5-29
Wild Dill Dip picture recipe on page 5-30
a variety of raw vegetables (for example: celery,
carrots, green pepper, cauliflower and/or broccoli)
plain yogurt
parsley
dill weed
knife
cutting board
paper plates

Directions

Read Celery Can Talk , see below, to the children. Have them recite each line until they know the poem well.

Ask the children what sound the celery stalk makes when chewed. Discuss other foods that have a similar sound when chewed, for example, discuss carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and green peppers.

Display the Vegetable Cut-Ups and Wild DiU Dippicture recipes on pages 5-29 and 5-30. Review the recipes with the children until they know them well. Have the children:

Serve the Vegetable Cut-Ups and Wild Dill Dip to children, noting how each vegetable sounds when chewed. Ask the children to recite the Celery Can Talk poem. Have them modify the poem to include other crunchy foods, such as carrots, green pepper, popcorn, cauliflower or crackers.

Lemon yogurt can also be used as a dip.

Food For Thought

Have children name crispy foods and describe the sounds they make when chewed.
 
 
 

CELERY CAN TALK
Celery, celery, celery stalk,
When I eat you I may you talk.
(move mouth as if talking)
Crunch, crunch, crunch I hear,
(put hand around ear, make crunching sounds)
Loudly, loudly in my ear.
(cover ears)
 
Plink, Plank, Plunk--What Spunk
To Know and Learn

Children will act out popcorn popping and describe the sounds that food makes when chewed after listening to the Popping Poem and making popcorn.

Materials Needed

The Popping Poem, see below
popcorn
vegetable oil
popcorn popper or hot plate
paper

Directions

Read The Popping Poem, see below, to the children. Have them repeat each line until they know it well.

Ask the children to answer the following questions:

What do popcorn kernels feel like?

What sound does popcorn make when you put it in a popper?

What sound does popcorn make when you heat it? How does popcorn look before and after you heat it?

Put a popper or hot plate on a large sheet of paper or sheet that extends at least 3 to 4 feet on all sides of the popper. Have the children sit in a circle at the edge of the paper.

Let the children watch the hard popcorn kernels change into fluffy, white popcorn. Allow them to catch flying popcorn that goes to the edge of the circle.

Let the children feel and taste the popped popcorn. Ask them to answer the following questions:
What did the popcorn feel like before it was cooked? (Use words like hard and smooth to describe feel.)

What does the popcorn feel like after it is cooked? (Use words like soft and fluffy to describe feel.)

What was the color of the popcorn before it was cooked?
(Colored popcorn is available in some areas.)

What is the color of the popcorn after it is cooked?

Reread The 'Popping Poem.

The following books can be used with this activity to reinforce the concept that food makes noise when it is eaten:

The Popcorn Book T. dePaoli, Scholastic Book Service, New York, 1978).

Mr. Picklepaws Popcorn. (R. Adams, Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company, Inc., 1965).

Food For Thought

Ask children to act out popcorn as it pops. Have them describe shape and color of popcorn kernels before and after cooking. Also, ask them to describe the sound popcorn makes when it is eaten.

THE POPPING POEM
Plink, Plank, Plunk
(pop up and down)
Into the popper I threw this corn
(pretend to throw something)
It wiggled and jiggled and popped this morn!
(move hands in wiggling action)
I opened the lid and there was popcorn!
(spread hands, look surprised)
 
The Taste of Things To Come
To Know and Learn

By tasting different foods, children will discriminate and group or sort sweet, salty, sour, bitter and bland foods.

Materials Needed

Tastes Great on page 5-10
cookie
salt water or pretzels
unsweetened lemon juice or dill pickle
orange rind or grapefruit juice
unsalted crackers or milk
paper cups
knife

Directions

Sing Tastes Great on page 5-10 to the children. Have them repeat each line until they know it well.

Describe the way we enjoy food tastes including foods that taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter and bland.

Ask the children to answer the following questions:

What foods taste sweet?
(cookies, apple, ice cream, etc.)

What foods taste salty?
(dill pickles, pretzels, etc.)

What foods taste sour?
(lemons, limes, etc.)

What foods taste bitter?
(grapefruit juice, orange rind, etc.)

What foods taste bland?
(milk, water, bread, etc.)

After the discussion, give the children the opportunity to taste foods that are sweet, salty, sour, bitter and bland. After tasting each food, have them describe how the food tastes. Prepare the following:

A. Sweet

Serve children cookies. Have them describe the taste of these foods. Discuss other foods that taste sweet, for example, bananas, apples, and ice cream.

B. Salty

Serve children salt water or pretzels. Have them describe how these foods taste. Discuss other
foods that taste salty, for example, pickles, luncheon meats, salted peanuts and salted crackers.

C. Sour

Serve children lemon juice or dill pickles. Have them describe how these foods taste. Discuss other foods that taste sour, for example, lemons and limes.

D. Bitter

Serve children grapefruit juice or pieces of orange rind. Have them describe how these foods taste. Discuss other foods that can taste bitter, for example, unsweetened baker's chocolate.

E. Bland

Serve children cups of milk or unsalted crackers. Have them describe how these foods taste. Discuss other foods that can taste bland, for example, bread, butter, cooked pasta and rice.

The following book can be used to reinforce the concepts of this unit:

Food Is For Eating (I. Podendorf, Children's Press, Chicago, 1970).
 

Food For Thought
Have children wear a blindfold or close their eyes and try to identify a food by its taste. Ask them to describe the taste of the food.
 
 

TASTES GREAT
(can be sung to the tune of
This is the Way We Wash Our Clothes)
Chorus
I can tell you the way food tastes
(point to children)
the way food tastes, the way food tastes
I can tell you the way food tastes
each and every taste.
Some. foods really taste so sweet
(smile or rub stomach)
taste so sweet, taste so sweet
I can tell you foods that taste so sweet
like cookies and ice cream.
Chorus
Some foods, really taste so salty
(curl up lips)
taste so salty, taste so salty
I can tell you foods that taste so salty
like nuts, crackers and chips.
Chorus
Some foods will really taste so sour
(pull cheeks into mouth)
taste so sour, taste so sour
I can tell you foods that taste so sour
like pickles, lemons and limes.
Some foods will really taste so bitter
(make a face)
taste so bitter, taste so bitter
I can tell you foods that taste so bitter
like orange rinds and grapefruit juice.
Some foods will really taste so bland
(shrug shoulders)
taste so bland, taste so bland
I can tell you foods that taste so bland
like milk, bread and butter.
Chorus
(Adapted from Nutrition in a Changing World:
Preschool, E. Marbach, M. Plass and L. Hsu,
The Pennsylvania State University, University
Park, PA, 1979.)
 
 
Vanilla Please!
To Know and Learn

Children will explore tastes and flavors by listening to the Vanilla Please! poem and preparing ice cream.

Materials Needed

Vanilla Please! poem on page 5-12
My Own Ice Cream Machine picture
recipe on page 5-31
paper
glue or tape
crayons or felt tip markers
bulletin board, blackboard, wall or large piece of paper
milk
sugar
vanilla
ice
salt
cans--large and small
spoons

Directions

Read Vanilla Please! on page 5-12. Have the children practice saying each line until they know it well.

Talk about the ice cream flavors mentioned in the poem.

Have the children:

Name the different ice cream flavors they have tried.

Name other ice cream flavors.

Name their favorite ice cream flavor.

Show what ice cream flavors the children prefer by making a Favorite Ice Cream Taste bulletin board or poster. Have the children draw a picture of their favorite flavor of ice cream on an ice cream cone. Put each child's name on the drawing.

Attach the ice cream cone drawings to a bulletin board, blackboard, wall or large piece of paper.
Ask the following questions about the Favorite Ice Cream bulletin board:

What are the children's favorite flavors of ice cream? How many different favorite flavors of ice cream are shown?

How many children like vanilla ice cream (chocolate, strawberry, etc.)?

Ask all the children who drew vanilla (chocolate, strawberry, etc.) ice cream cones to raise their hands and form a group. Continue with all of the flavors.

Display My Own Ice Cream Machine ice cream picture recipe on page 5-31. Review the directions with the children until they know them well. Have the children:

Let the children eat the ice cream. Ask them the following questions:

How does the ice cream feel when you taste it?
Is the ice cream smooth? Is it lumpy:?
What is the color of the ice cream?
How does the ice cream taste?

To decrease the stirring time, use very cold milk, or, the ice cream ingredients can be put into an air tight container which is then placed in a larger plastic container filled with ice. Next have the children roll the large container around the room until the ice cream is formed.

Vanilla Please! could also be made into a finger puppet story or a flannel board story.

The film, You... And Your Senses Of Smell And Taste (Walt Disney Education Materials Company, Glendale, California, 1962), may be useful to reinforce the concepts taught in this lesson.

Food For Thought

From the discussions, determine whether some children need to review tastes and flavors. Have these children name different ice cream flavors.

VANILLA PLEASE!
There once was a girl named Sue,
she had so much ice cream she didn't know what to do.
(spread arms wide)
She thought she shouldn't hide it and decided to divide it,
(with one hand make chopping movements over other hand)
and that's what she's going to do.
Depending on the taste, her friends helped her not to waste,
(shake fingers)
and in her haste she's going to give some to you!
(point to children)
Chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla, which will do?
(shrug shoulders)
Which would you take if you could pick two?
(ask which flavors they would pick)
There's orange, banana, and tutti fruitti too,
(ask if they have ever tried these flavors)
or will it be chocolate ripple, mint chip or raspberry
for you?
(ask if they have ever tried these flavors)
Which of these ice creams has a taste you favor,
(point to mouth)
Which should Sue give to you?