This is a great experiment when learning about sight, and also in connection with Chanukah and the 5 Senses.

You will need:
Oil
Water
Food coloring
Empty bottles

Fill each bottle about a third of the way with water. add food coloring for greater contrast, just don't use yellow :) Once mixed, pour an equal amount of oil into each bottle. Seal tightly. Have the kids see that the oil is on top. Then shake the bottles vigorously. Watch as the oil and water slowly separate so that once again the oil is at the top. 

This is great to leave in your discovery table! You can also graph the kids' predictions of what will happen once the oil and water are shaken together. Some kids may suggest that the colors will change, or that nothing will happen... Have fun!

Here's a fun activity that combines taste and sight!

Chanukah, or any holiday is a great time for baking cookies! That's the taste part, now for the sight! One of the SEITs in my classroom had a great idea to have the kids dye their own crystalized sugar sprinkles.

You will need:

Ziploc Baggies
Food Coloring
Sugar

Simply scoop some sugar into a plastic bag. I added a single drop to about 1/4 C Sugar and you can see the results below. Seal the bag, and shake up the sugar, squeezing it and moving it around. Watch as the sugar slowly takes on the color. Once finished, you can use it as sprinkles for Holiday Sugar Cookies!

Here are some fun ideas to teach about the sense of smell:

1. Spicy Collage- Give the kids a variety of spices. Try to include different colors and textures. Some ideas are cloves, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, paprika. Have the kids squeeze glue onto a paper and sprinkle the spices on. 

2. Kool-Aid painting. Simply make a few different flavors of Koool-Aid. The higher you concentrate it, the longer the scents will last. Have the kids paint with the Kool aid as they would water colors. These dry sticky, so if sending home, you may want to place a piece of plastic wrap onto them.

3. Smelling Center- Have a few distinct spices in containers with holes poked into them. Have the kids smell them and see if they can identify their characteristics. You can graph which scents are preferred over others.

4. Car Air Freshener- Give each child a styrofoam ball and whole cloves, Have them poke the cloves into the ball, Then, pin a ribbon into the ball so that it can hang!

Here's a final craft pertaining to the sense of hearing for now.

Supplies:

Paper Towel roll
Paint
Duck Tape
glitter
winter stickers (optional)
Beans or rice
Plastic spoon

First paint the paper towel roll, and sprinkle on some glitter to make it shine. if you're planning to include stickers, I find that they stick better  when placed on the wet paint. 

Once dry, cover one side of the paper towel roll's opening with duck tape. Ensure that it's very secure. SEt the beans or rice on the table and have the kids carefully spoon about 1/2 cup into their paper towel roll. Seal it closed with the duck tape on the other side. 

Show the kids how to rock it back and forth slowly to resemble a steady rainfall, or fast to sound like a storm!

Continuing with the sense of hearing, these drums are fun to make, and great to use for singing any holiday songs, or for Music and Movement!

Supplies:

Dry cleaning hanger that has a rod
Colored tape
Large'ish plastic container
Mod Podge
Paint or Tissue Paper squares

Optional Supplies:
Glue Gun
Satin Ribbon- a lot!

First, remove the rod from the hanger and break or cut it in half. The rods tend to be sticky, so I prefer to wrap them using the colored tape. These are your drum sticks.

Next, you can paint the containers, but I prefer to Mod Podge tissue paper squares to the container, because they will seal better.. The paint will flake off right away, requiring a teacher to apply Mod Podge almost as soon as the paint is dry. A fun Holiday effect is to sprinkle glitter onto the mod Podge while it's still wet!

Once dry, an optional idea is to glue gun a length of ribbon to the container so that the kids can wear their drums!

Your drums are complete! Have fun singing and making music! When I've done this, I taught the kids to beat with alternating sticks, or both at the same time and follow commands to start and stop so that it wouldn't get out of hand! They had a great time!!!

I've been promising you some crafts that apply to the 5 Senses. The next few posts will be dedicated to them!

Here's some bubble wrap fun!

Bubble Wrap Prints:
choose one or two colors of paint, and paint the bumpy side of a sheet of bubble wrap. Then gently press a piece of construction paper down onto the paint, and slowly peel it off! When the bubble wrap dries, cut off a piece to staple to the paper when sending home, and give the rest to the kids to pop the bubbles.

Play "We are the Dinosaurs" by Laurie Berkner, or other marching songs, and have the kids march on bubble wrap popping the bubbles.

For the past few years, I've combined teaching Chanukah with teaching the five senses. here's a great sight craft and game that can be made more or less difficult depending on the ages of the kids.

You will need:
An empty clear water bottle with the labels completely removed. I found a Voss water to work best in terms of shape and the labels remove super easily. A less expensive but equally good option is a seltzer bottle- I find that those labels are more easily removable, however, the mouth of the bottle is far narrower.
Dreidels
Chanukah/Birthday candles
Chocolate coins
Foam or other handmade mini menorah
Mini wrapped gifts ( I used about 1/4 of a raisin box)
16 0z of rice

Take your Chanukah items and place them in the bottle, fill the rest of the bottle 3/4 of the way with rice and seal the bottle. If you're worried that the little ones will open the bottle, use a glue gun around the cap to really seal it. For older kids, put fewer and smaller items, and give them a checklist of items to find.

Enjoy!