Body Parts & Senses

Your body has five special senses. They tell you about the world around you.

Your eyes help you see. You can see colors, shapes, and faces.

Your ears help you hear. You can hear music, birds, and voices.

Your nose helps you smell. You can smell cookies baking or flowers blooming.

Your tongue helps you taste. You can taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savory foods.

Your skin helps you touch and feel. You can feel a soft blanket or a cold ice cube.

Each sense has its own body part. Your eyes see. Your ears hear. Your nose smells. Your tongue tastes. Your skin feels touch.

Your senses send messages to your brain. Your brain figures out what the messages mean. That is how you know a dog is barking or soup is hot.

Try it now. Look around and name one thing you can see. Then listen for one sound. Your senses are working all the time.

Taste and smell are best friends. They work together.

Your tongue tastes food. Tiny bumps on your tongue do the tasting. Your tongue can tell five tastes. They are sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savory. Savory is the taste of things like cheese and warm soup.

Your nose smells. Tiny bits of a smell float in the air. They go into your nose when you breathe in. Your nose tells your brain what the smell is.

Taste and smell help each other. That is why food tastes bland when your nose is stuffed up from a cold. Your nose does a big part of the tasting job.

Smell can also keep you safe. A yucky smell tells you not to eat spoiled food. A smoke smell tells you something might be burning.

Try it. Smell a piece of fruit before you eat it. Then take a bite.

Your body has special parts for sensing the world. Each part has one main job.

Your eyes are for seeing. They sit in your face and take in light and pictures.

Your ears are for hearing. They sit on the sides of your head and catch sounds.

Your nose is for smelling. It sits in the middle of your face and sniffs the air.

Your tongue is for tasting. It sits inside your mouth and tastes your food.

Your skin is for touch. Skin covers your whole body. It can feel soft, rough, hot, cold, wet, and dry. Touch is special because it works everywhere, not just in one spot on your face.

Point to each sense part on your own body. Eyes. Ears. Nose. Tongue. Skin.

Your body has special helpers called sensory receptors. They catch messages from the world. A message they catch is called a stimulus.

Some receptors catch touch. They live in your skin. They feel things that press, brush, or tickle you.

Some receptors catch tastes and smells. They live on your tongue and in your nose. They notice tiny bits of food and scent.

Other receptors catch light for seeing and sound for hearing. They live in your eyes and ears.

After a receptor catches a message, it sends the message to your brain. Your brain reads the message and tells you what is happening. That is how you know the stove is hot or a bell is ringing.