Sense-ational Discoveries: The Tasty Tales of Who We Are!
Preschool
August 21, 2024
At CGK, we believe hands-on learning experiences are essential for young learners, particularly in helping them understand themselves and the world around them. Recently, our Jungle Class (3-year-olds) embarked on an exciting sensory journey as part of the 'Who We Are' Unit of Inquiry (UOI). This unit focuses on self-awareness and our connection to the world, this time through exploring our bodies, how we grow, and our five senses. To deepen our understanding, we organised a food-tasting activity that turned into a delicious educational adventure!
Discovering the Four Core Flavours
The activity was designed to help our students explore their sense of taste by trying a variety of foods and categorising them into four main flavours: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Each student was given small samples of different foods along with colourful stickers to place on a chart corresponding to the identified flavour.
The foods included a range of familiar and new items:
Sweet: Sugar, syrup, peach, pineapple
Salty: Salt, cheese, Baby star snack
Sour: Lemon, orange, pickled plum ‘Umeboshi’
Bitter: Dark chocolate, vanilla essence, tea, grapefruit
Learning Through Taste
As the children sampled each food, they engaged their sense of taste and used their observational skills to determine the flavour. This activity was more than just tasting; it provided an opportunity for students to make connections between flavours and their personal experiences with food. The use of coloured stickers helped them visually organise their thoughts in a fun and interactive way.
Connecting to Our Unit of Inquiry
This sensory activity was a perfect fit for our "Who We Are" UOI, helping students understand themselves and their connection to the world around them. Through exploring the sense of taste, students learned about one of the five senses in a practical and memorable way. The activity also complemented our broader discussions on nutrition and the importance of a balanced diet for healthy growth.
Additionally, the tasting activity connected with previous lessons about the ocean and its creatures. We discussed the impact of pollution on sea life, including fish, and considered the implications of eating fish that might have ingested harmful materials. This helped students understand the importance of environmental stewardship and the connections between our food choices and the health of our planet.
Fun and Learning Combined
The children were enthusiastic participants, eager to try new flavours and share their thoughts with classmates. While some foods were met with delighted smiles (and a few surprised faces), the overall experience was one of curiosity and excitement. It was wonderful to see the students supporting each other and discussing their findings with enthusiasm.
This fun exploration reinforced the concepts learned and provided further opportunities for our students to engage with their senses. By incorporating sensory activities like this one, we aim to create a rich and dynamic learning environment where students can explore, inquire, and discover the wonders of the world and themselves.
We look forward to more exciting adventures in our UOI and are excited to see our students continue to grow and learn through engaging real-world experiences.
Author Profile
Ms. Adi - Preschool Teacher
(UK)
Preschool teacher at CGK International School.
With a background in both the UK and Japan and over 15 years of educational experience, she has also served as a lead teacher in after-school programs and child care centers in Osaka. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Education and holds a TEFL certification.
