Exploring Matter with Toys: Using and Understanding the Senses

A hands-on and minds-on exploration of how the senses work--and how we use them to interact with the world around us--this teacher resource for primary grades teaches students how to use their five senses to explore the particle nature of matter through recording, classifying, presenting and explaining, their observations. Tested in hundreds of classrooms through the National Science Foundation--funded Teaching with TOYS program--and meeting the requirements of the new national science education standards--this innovative resource includes over 20 activities, such as Feely Balloons for the sense of touch; M&M Classification for sight; Big Ben for hearing; Scratch-and-Sniff Challenge for smell; Jumbled-up Jell-O for taste, and I Can ``Sense'' You Like Popcorn for combining the senses. Three sections covering pedagogy, content, and activities feature dozens of reproducible work sheets, handouts, and suggestions for incorporating toy-based activities into lessons. Each activity includes grade level, key science topics, and science process skills, a materials list, and more.