Hobbies And Interests
Hide and Seek
While it may not seem like anything more than a mindless game, hide and seek encourages children to use their senses. They use their eyes to look for clues as to the location of the other players. Their hearing tells them where the other kids are as well. In certain instances, smell can also help children locate their fellow players. For example, if one of the children is wearing perfume, the seeker may be able to track her down using the smell.
Food Sampling
Practice makes perfect when it comes to honing your sense of taste. Sampling small amounts of bold as well as subtle foods challenges your tongue to pick up the different flavors and make them recognizable. Lean over your plate and smell your foods first. A great portion of taste comes from the smell. Chew the food thoroughly to bring out all the subtle flavors you miss when you eat quickly. Once you sample a small portion of food, move onto the next dish. This keeps the flavors and textures changing, which helps your mind register the flavors accurately. Swish water in your mouth between each bite to help remove the leftover debris from the previous dish, enhancing the pure flavor of the upcoming bite.
Describe an Object
Touch is another important sensation for children to learn early. Blindfold children and place an item in their hands. Ask the children to examine the item with their hands and identify what it is. For example, set a stuffed animal into their hands and let them run their hands over it. After five minutes, ask the child to describe the feeling of the object and guess what it is. Young children with a limited vocabulary will have some trouble describing the object, so prompt them with suggestions that accurately describe the object.
Scent Training
Even as an adult, it is possible to sharpen your sense of smell despite the natural decline that takes place as you age. Sharpen your scent of smell by first stopping by a coffee shop and picking up a small bag of fresh coffee grounds. Next, visit your favorite candle shop. Browse the candle selections, smelling each one. Clear your smell receptors with a strong whiff of coffee grounds afterward. The coffee will clear the previous smell, allowing you to pick up the scent of the next candle clearly. Smelling the different, strong scents helps increase your ability to recognize scents.