Project kits

17 September 2025

Tiny scientists: exploring science through the five senses

This project kit introduces basic science concepts by encouraging young pupils to explore the world through their five senses.

Boy in white and black striped shirt playing wooden blocks

Yan Krukau / Pexels

The early years are a critical stage in a child’s development, when core skills take shape. Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling are pupils' first tools for learning and are essential for developing observation, reasoning and comparison skills.

Through playful, hands-on activities, pupils begin to understand how to ask questions, notice patterns and talk about what they discover. This kit offers a simple and flexible structure for early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators to carry out a collaborative science project that is meaningful, engaging and developmentally appropriate.

Objectives

pupils will explore and describe sensory experiences related to the five senses through hands-on science activities
pupils will correctly identify and categorise sensory inputs (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) by the end of the project
pupils will participate in age-appropriate weekly activities designed to develop observation, comparison and basic science skills
the project supports early science learning by linking sensory exploration to basic science skills and problem-solving
pupils and teachers will complete and share a joint sensory discovery book and collaborative story by the end of the project

Introduction of partners

To introduce themselves to their project partners, each participating class

creates a short greeting video where pupils introduce themselves and say what they like to see, hear, touch, etc.
shares photos of their classroom or outdoor space, along with a ‘senses tour’ showing their favourite sensory areas
uses a collaborative senses bingo: each school fills in one square (e.g. ‘We heard a rooster!’) and the others try to find the same or a similar example in their local area

Orientation

Pupils and teachers explore together the topic and its relevance to everyday life. This phase includes storytelling and other activities.

Create a project scientist mascot:
Each class draws one part of the mascot’s body after reaching a common agreement. Then, each class proposes a name for the mascot and all classes vote for the best one. The shared mascot can be used in all project activities. Alternatively, each class can select a stuffed animal to send to their partner school along with a few small gifts. Pupils can also decide how the mascot will help in ‘investigations’ (e.g. measuring sounds, comparing smells).
Senses poster wall:
Creating five posters (one for each sense), adding pupils' thoughts, questions and observations. As pupils think, discuss and reflect, they can add drawings, words or photos to show what they know and what they are curious about. The posters can also include real materials, temperature checks (cold/warm) or comparisons (lighter/heavier) to explore physical properties.

Communication

Because the pupils are very young, teachers lead communication between partner schools. Most exchanges take place through shared videos, photos, drawings and short greetings. Communication can happen through live sessions (using the BigBlueButton), where pupils can introduce themselves, teach songs to each other or play sensory games with the help of their teachers.

Pupils communicate through short video greetings, audio clips (‘Listen very carefully – what do you hear?’ – ‘I hear a bird!’) and photo collages.

Teachers coordinate the project through TwinSpace, shared folders or video meetings. Visual aids, such as icons (👀 👂 👃 👅 ✋), are used throughout to support cross-linguistic understanding.

Collaboration

Activity 1: 👀 See what you see

Pupils go on a ‘colour hunt’ or ‘shape walk’ and document what they find using tablets or photos. They compare object sizes (e.g. biggest/smallest), predict what will be seen outside vs. inside and sort items by colour or shape.

Each class uploads 3 ‘mystery photos’ (zoomed or partial views) and others guess using reasoning (‘It’s red and round – maybe a tomato?’). This activity can also be done in an online session. Teachers can then create a slideshow of all ‘tiny scientists’ visions’, including their drawings and matched real photos.

Activity 2: 👂 Listen closely

Pupils record sounds indoors and outdoors and predict where they come from.

Pupils measure sound duration with a timer (‘This lasted 5 seconds!’) and sort sounds (natural/human-made). Partner classes swap sound recordings and guess them in short video replies (‘Is it a dog?’).

At the end, teachers can create a joint sound collage or an audio guessing game using tools like Vocaroo or ChatterPix.

Activity 3: ✋ Touch and texture

Each class records a short video or audio clip describing a mystery object in simple sensory language (e.g. ‘It’s rough and cold. It’s grey. You can find it outside!’). They show only a small part of the object (e.g. a zoomed-in photo or blurred image) to keep it a surprise.

Partner classes watch/listen and guess by choosing from two or three pictures provided by the original class (e.g. ‘Is it a rock, a sponge or a spoon?’ – shown as images).

Pupils vote with emojis or by pointing during class, and teachers post the answer.

Activity 4: 👃👅 Smell and taste adventure

Pupils explore smells and tastes, then make simple experiments: ‘What happens when we mix sour and sweet?’.
They describe smells using categories (spicy, fruity, earthy).

Teachers support pupils in creating a multisensory memory book. Each pupil shares a smell or taste memory (e.g. ‘The smell of cinnamon makes me think of cookies’), accompanied by a drawing and sensory icons.

At the end, they create an online book with their drawings and voice clips.

Activity 5: A journey of the five senses

The project mascot embarks on a sensory adventure inspired by the activities they completed – seeing colorful objects, hearing different sounds, feeling textures, smelling scents and tasting simple flavors.

Pupils contribute short parts or scenes describing what the mascot discovers using one or more senses. Teachers collect these contributions and assemble them into a joint story, adding drawings or photos from each class to illustrate the journey.

The final story can be shared as a digital book or video, showcasing how the mascot explores the world through the five senses.

Evaluation & Assessment

Assessment should be continuous and based on observation and documentation.

Teachers document each activity using photos, drawings and voice clips. Pupils reflect using simple tools like emojis or drawings.

At the end of each activity, pupils share what they discovered and enjoyed. Responses are compiled into a joint TwinBoard.

Teachers reflect in joint meetings (What worked? What needs improvement?) and share a final summary on TwinSpace.

At the end of the project, pupils vote on favourite activities. Each class creates a ‘What we learned’ page or video. Teachers assess the impact and outcomes collectively.

Follow up

Teachers can publish highlights on the school website, blog or social media and share their work in relevant educational events, such as conferences or trainings.

Each class can organise a ‘Senses Day’ to showcase pupils’ discoveries through project posters, crafts and videos. Families and other school classes can be invited to explore the five senses through interactive displays and shared activities.

Additional information

Age from:

up to 3
Age to:

6
Difficulty:

Easy
Education type:

Early Childhood Education and Care
Target audience:

Teacher

Student Teacher
Target audience ISCED:

Early childhood education (ISCED 0)

Tiny scientists: exploring science through the five senses

Additional information

Topics

School subjects

Key competences