5 Ways to Explore the Sense of Sight

Sense of Sight Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

As part of our All About Me unit study we've been learning about our five senses.  We love sensory play, and this week we have been isolating each sense and focusing on stimulating one at a time.  I chose five activities that centered on the sense of sight.  The first two were demonstrations about the importance of sight.  

1.  Blind Drawing

I blindfolded each boy, and they drew a picture of themselves.  Well, J-Bug (3) wasn't interested in drawing.  He said it was too hard, and the blindfold was hurting him.  JZ (5) enjoyed drawing blindfolded, and his picture turned out surprisingly well!  After removing the blindfold I had each of them draw another picture of themselves, and this time they could see how much easier it was to move the pencil on the page.

2.  Blindfolded Walking

Next we played a game where we took turns walking around the house while blindfolded.  We had to use our hands, elbows and feet to be sure we didn't run into anything.  I didn't get any good photos of this, but it was a fun activity.  Of course it brought on a ton of giggles and over dramatic falling and bumping into things.

3.  Observation and Memory Game

I set ten objects on a tray and instructed them to study it carefully.  I removed the tray after two minutes, and together the boys had to remember as many items as they could.  They remembered six out of ten.

4.  Peripheral Vision Demonstration

To demonstrate how peripheral vision works I held a variety of objects one at a time in front of the boys while they covered one eye.  I had them alternate which eye they covered, and after awhile of inspecting the object I let them open both eyes and fully view.  Objects we used included:  a pencil, a banana, my hand, a coin, a water bottle and a ball.

5.  Celery Absorbing Colored Water Experiment

We did the celery color absorbing experiment to see how looks can be altered.  We did a Leaf Unit Study not too long ago, and in this study we did an experiment on a tree branch to see how water is absorbed through the tree to the leaves.  This celery experiment was the perfect visual for young children to watch the process.  We filled five vases with water, and the boys added food coloring to each.  They carefully placed a stalk of celery inside each vase.  As we filled the tall vases I asked them what they thought would happen.  JZ said he thought the celery would grow really tall.  J-Bug watched the celery closely, eager to see the results.  This was also a great lesson in patience.

It wasn't possible to fully capture on film, but I was amazed at how the blue tinted the celery within the first hour of soaking.  The blue is on the left, and yellow is on the right.

We left the celery in the vases for three days and tracked the progress often.  Both boys were delighted to see the colors change.

This photo was taken after 24 hours.

This shot was taken on the third and final day.  The color of the celery continued to darken, but the greatest change took place in the first six hours of soaking.

For more ideas of ways to study the five senses visit our Virtual Book Club post where we used fresh produce to explore and stimulate all five senses after reading Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z.  

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