Can You Tell By Touch? Author: Sharon Janulaw

Overview: Students feel inside a bag and use only their sense of touch to describe and identify one of the objects that is inside the bag.

Lesson Concepts:

• We learn about the natural world using our senses and extensions of our senses.

Grade Span: K–2

Materials:

• 6 brown bags or other bags that are opaque
• Materials for each bag such as:
     - Piece of sandpaper
     - Cotton ball
     - Paper clip
     - Piece of chalk
     - Piece of wood
     - Facial tissue
     - Rough rock
     - Smooth stone
     - Pine cone
     - Piece of slippery material

Advance Preparation:

Prepare the Touch Bags by placing one of each of the items you have selected in each bag.

Time: 30 minutes

Grouping: Whole class and pairs

Teacher Background:

It is essential for children to learn that rational thought and the scientific enterprise are based upon observations, both direct and indirect. Observations using our senses and extensions of our senses are the starting points for knowledge that reaps benefits for our daily lives and contributes to scientific understanding.

Explore these links for additional information on the topics covered in this lesson:

• Nature of Science

Teaching Tips:

Talk to students about handling the bags and the items inside them. If you are using brown bags from the market, they can be broken or torn if used roughly. Talk about using only the sense of touch and not looking into the bag to select an item.

Procedure:

1. During a group discussion have students think of all the descriptive words they can that tell how an object might feel to the touch. Make a list of the descriptive words. Ask students if they think they can identify an object just by feeling it.
2. Tell the group that they are going to work with a partner. Each pair will have a bag with items inside it. They will take turns working with their partner to describe and identify the objects in the bag by using only their sense of touch. Either have them decide which one will go first or select which one will go first.
3. Give each pair a brown bag. Tell the person who is the holder to hold the bag behind the back of the person who is the feeler. The person who is the feeler should reach into the bag with one or both hands and select one item, keeping it inside the bag. The feeler should use descriptive words to tell the holder what the item feels like and then identify the object. The feeler can then remove the object from the bag and use the sense of sight to check accuracy of identification of the object.
4. The partners change roles. The person who is now the holder holds the bag for the new . Again the feeler should reach into the bag with one or both hands and select one item, keeping it inside the bag. The feeler should use descriptive words to tell the holder what the item feels like and then identify the object. The feeler can then remove the object from the bag and use the sense of sight to check accuracy of identification of the object.
5. Continue until all items have been described and identified.
6. As a whole class, discuss how easy or difficult it was to think of descriptive words to tell about objects. Talk about how easy or difficult it was to identify objects using only the sense of touch.

Extensions:

Comparing Touch
Give students objects and have them feel each item with their fingertips, their elbows, their faces, their arms, their legs, etc. Have them compare their sense of touch using different parts of their bodies. Discuss whether or not there was a difference in how bumpy, rough, pointy, etc. an item felt when touched with different body parts.

Mystery Touch Box
Tape an object to the bottom of a box. Cut a small opening in the side of the box and staple cloth to cover the opening. Tape the lid on the box. Draw hands on the box. Have students discover what is in the box by using their sense of touch to feel the object. Make as many Mystery Boxes as you choose to prepare.

How Many Fingers?
Have one child turn his or her back to the class. Then press five fingers against the student’s back Ask him/her how many fingers he/she felt. (If your fingers are close together, the student may only feel two or three fingers.) Repeat using different numbers of fingers. Have the student place one hand behind his or her back, palm up, and press your fingers on the palm. (The student should easily be able to determine the number of fingers when pressed on the palm.) Have students compare the sense of touch using different parts of the body.