the 5 senses of Christmas

My friend Zoe inspired me with this idea of Christmas play and experiences based around the five senses.  I have kept the list to things to do in your home.

Sight

• Play I Spy on the Christmas tree (for example, can you find the reindeer, a gold bauble and so on)
• at dinnertime, light up your house with candles and Christmas lights

Sound

• listen to and sing Christmas carols
• dance and play along to carols such as Jingle Bells and the Little Drummer Boy with bells and drums
• play Can you find me? with bells.  One person takes bells with them and hides.  The other person finds them by listening for the sound of the bells.
• collect different bells and ring them

Smell
(characteristic Christmas smells might include cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, peppermint)

• collect different spices and smell them
• make scented playdough
• make a clove-studded orange (couldn't think of the name when I wrote this, but, oh yeah, a pomander) to hang on the Christmas tree

Taste

• bake with Christmas spices
• taste test traditional Christmas foods like gingerbread, fruit mince tarts, plum pudding, fruit cake, candy canes and so on

Touch

• reach into a mystery bag of Christmas-related items and try to guess what is in the bag.  Things you could put in the bag – ornaments, tinsel, a bell, a branch of pine, a pinecone