Fall is the perfect season to go on a Five Senses Nature Walk.  The air is crisp, the trees are changing, the animals are active, and it is the perfect temperature to be outside.  It’s the optimal opportunity to take learning outside and get students engaged with all five senses!

Our Five Senses Nature Walk is a great introduction to science for my kindergarten students.  In my county, we don’t begin teaching science lessons until closer to 2^nd Quarter.  I love using the five senses as an introduction to science and how to be a scientist.

My lesson is more of an introductory lesson, though you can use it in whatever way works best for you and your students. I simply tell my students we are going to go for a walk outside.  Students are given this free recording sheet and have them draw or write whatever it is that they hear, see, smell, touch, and taste*.  Before leaving I explain that taste is not going to be a box that we use on our nature walk but it is something that we will be talking about later.

We go outside and being our Five Senses Nature Walk.  Students are amazed at the world around them.  After a while of free exploration time, I guide students to close their eyes and just listen.  I encourage students to touch things and record the things that they feel.  Students are encouraged to smell the flowers or smell the grass.  I exaggerate as I use my senses to explore the world around me.

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After our walk, we come back inside and share the things that we discovered during our nature walk.  After that, I explain to my students that they were just scientists.  They were using their five senses to explore and learn about the things around them.  Finally, we spend the week doing hands-on exploration to deeper learning about the five senses.

Be sure to grab your five senses recording sheet below!