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Five-Senses Adventure

Invite your child to guess an object without looking. They can listen, touch, smell, or taste, then use their eyes to check the guess.

  • 3 years
  • Some prep
  • At home
  • About 15 minutes
Focus
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Developmental benefits

  • Movement：Touching, smelling, and tasting to identify an object gives your child practice gathering and comparing information through different senses.
  • Cognitive：Returning to different sensory clues while guessing gives your child an engaging reason to sustain attention.

Preparation

What You’ll Need

  1. 1

    A cardboard box and one familiar object at a time, such as a bell, an orange, a strip of cloth, or a stuffed toy

Step 1

Meet the Mystery Box

Place one object in the mystery box and invite your child to cover their eyes and guess what the “gift” is. They can use their ears, hands, nose, or mouth for clues. If they guess correctly, reveal the gift.

What to notice

  • Follows your direction and covers their eyes with the cloth Attending and Understanding
  • Plays the blindfolded guessing game with you Relationships with Adults

Tips

  • If your child wants to peek, say playfully, “Shh! The gift is hiding. If it sees you looking, it might run away!”
  • Your child may be curious but dislike having their eyes covered. If so, invite them to close their eyes instead.
  • Begin with a familiar toy, fruit, or other object so your child can connect the clues with something they know.

Step 2

Investigate with the Senses

Shake the box so your child can listen and make a guess. Then take out the object and invite them to check the guess in other ways, such as touching or smelling it.

What to notice

  • Uses several senses while exploring and guessing an object Perception
  • Stays focused while guessing the objects Cognitive Self-Regulation (Executive Functioning)

Tips

  • If your child needs words for what they feel, offer choices: “Does it feel smooth, cool, or hard?”
  • Remind your child that a different guess is okay—the clues they notice are what make the investigation interesting.
  • If the game is unfamiliar, take a turn first. Close your eyes, listen, touch, and smell so your child can see how to investigate.
  • If your child needs another clue, offer one such as, “It’s red,” or, “It tastes sweet,” to connect a sensation with a familiar object.

Step 3

Reveal the Answer

After exploring the object with different senses, invite your child to uncover their eyes and see whether it matches the guess. If they want to continue, place a new object in the box and play again.

What to notice

  • Correctly guesses the gift inside the mystery box Perception
  • Proudly tells you, “I guessed it!” Sense of Identity and Belonging

Tips

  • If your child touches the bell but guesses “ball,” respond first to the clue they noticed: “It feels round. Good noticing! Listen again—this one makes a sound.”
  • Swap roles and let your child choose the object while you guess.
  • Use a playful, surprised voice when you reveal the object so either answer becomes part of the fun: “Oh—it was you!”
  • Afterward, ask, “How did it feel when you touched it? Did it feel the way it looked?”

Better Parenting Content Team · Updated September 11, 2026