"Let Children Use Their Senses To Check Out These Books"

Young children continually use their five senses to explore, identify, and classify their ever-expanding worlds. Digital sense exploration (touching) is probably the most noticeable behavior but unfortunately, we often wrongly admonish our children about touching. We say things like, “Oh, no, we don’t touch that!”, or “Keep your hands off that!” because we are afraid the object might be broken or damaged.

Regardless of adult admonishments, however, the touching sense prevails. Children do learn a lot about their world by touching. They learn that some trees have a rough bark while other trees have a slick surface, that a silk dress feels slippery, and that a horse’s nose has a velvety softness.

Taste is another sense that all of us continue to use to explore the world. What haven’t we put in our mouths? Again, as adults we are often overly concerned about what goes into a child’s mouth. How else is a child to know that grapes are sour, that a radish is hot, that a leather shoes tastes like....well, we all know what leather tastes like!

The Columbus Public Library has a wonderful collection of books for parents and children to read together to explore the five senses. These books include: “All About Your Senses” by Donna Bailey, “Busy Bunnies’ Five Senses” by Teddy Slater, “Feeling and Touch” by Julian Rowe, “Seeing” by Sharon Gordon, and “Smell” by Patricia Murphy. The author, Allan Fowler, explores three of the senses in his books entitled, “Hearing Things’, Tasting Things” and “Touching Things”. These books are written for small children to use both their hearing and seeing senses and are wonderful books for parents to share sensory experiences with their children. Some of these books employ cartoon illustrations to convey the concepts while other books rely on photographs.

If you are a parent (or grandparent) of a young child, and you want to help your child explore his/her world of senses, be sure to visit the Columbus Public Library to learn what is available. I am sure you will find something to encourage your child’s understanding of the world and tickle a sense or two!