DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET ›   read books and other printed material often. the  more children see print in a meaningful situation,  the more they are prepared for reading. read with a  child on your lap or sitting close by. pleasurable  reading activities lead to later enjoyment of reading. ›   vary repeated activities by adding visual surprises.  place colored cellophane over the fi sh tank or hide  colored rocks in the sand table. add food coloring to  water, glue, or homemade playdough. ›   put a drop of washable food coloring inside a home- made playdough ball. the color appears as the child  kneads the ball. place food coloring in a glass of water  and add a fl ower or celery stalk. the color will travel  up from the water into the object. ›   provide magnifying glasses for children to examine  fl owers, leaves, and shells. let children look through  a kaleidoscope. talk about the differences when  looking at an object with and without sunglasses. ›   identify the aroma of different foods as they are  cooked and eaten to create knowledge of smells.  the senses of smell and taste are closely related. ›   teach children the smell of books as you read or the  smell of dirt as you garden, which helps them  cement the object’s odor into memory. ›   use markers and sniff-and-smell storybooks with  scent added. Supervise closely so these do not go  into mouths. ›   add activities to the curriculum to foster olfactory  knowledge. add spices to a collage, add a few drops  of peppermint extract to the water table, and use  naturally scented hand cream after washing hands.  Be mindful of children who may be extra sensitive to  smells, and do not use artifi cial fragrances. ›   place a cotton ball with drops of an extract on it in  an empty spice bottle with a lid with holes. Glue the  lid to the bottle to prevent removal of the scented  cotton. Smelling Smell is learned in the infant and toddler years but honed in the preschool years. With experience, chil- dren can learn to distinguish the smell of a fresh apple and a cooked apple or a musty book and a new book. Descriptive vocabulary helps them to define smells. The goals are to see something and know what it smells like and to label the smells in their immediate vicinity. Call children’s attention to aromas associated with rain, cooking food, or paint. Encourage smell- ing flowers, leaves, and dirt when outside. Don’t ignore environmental smells. tasting Children improve their skill at identifying the taste of foods. With experience tasting a large variety of foods with accompanying descriptive vocabulary, they will be able to look at a food and know its taste. They can identify what they do taste. Getting preschoolers to try new foods is often difficult. They may model the likes and dislikes of others without really tasting the food. Challenge them to try a taste and assure them that as they mature, their tastes should change. p r e S c h o o l  ac t i v i t i e S p r e S c h o o l  ac t i v i t i e S support tasting support smelling ›   take notice with young children of odors in their  immediate surroundings. link odors with descriptive  words to help them learn smells. identify the smell  of rain and of fi ngerpaint. ›   create times during snacks and meals to discuss and  compare the taste of foods. this helps make the  connections in the brain so children eventually know  the taste of a food from seeing it. describe the foods  they are eating. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL d e v e l o p M e n t   o F   t h e   S e n S e S   21