My Body and My Five Senses

1The parts of your body

Stand up. Touch each part as you read it.

On your head you have hair, two eyes, two ears, one nose and one mouth. Inside your mouth are your teeth and your tongue.

Your neck holds your head up. Below it are your shoulders, your chest, your tummy and your back.

Two arms hang from your shoulders. Each arm bends at the elbow. At the end of each arm is a hand with 5 fingers.

2Every part has a job

Watch Mugisha carry water home in a jerrycan. His hands hold the handle. His arms lift it. His legs walk. His eyes watch the path.

Four parts, four different jobs. That is the rule: every part of your body has a job it does for you.

3Your five senses

Some body parts have a special job. They tell your brain what is happening around you. We call these your senses. You have five.

Let us watch one work. Uwase is sitting outside with her eyes closed. Her mother is cooking in the kitchen. Uwase smiles and says, “We are eating beans today!”

Her eyes were closed, so she did not see the beans. She did not touch them. She did not taste them. The smell of the beans came to her nose. Her nose told her brain: beans!

Uwase used the sense of smell. Now here are all five.

• Sight — you see with your eyes. You see the blackboard.
• Hearing — you hear with your ears. You hear the school bell.
• Smell — you smell with your nose. You smell rain coming.
• Taste — you taste with your tongue. You taste sweet honey.
• Touch — you feel with your skin. You feel that the tea is hot.

4Working together

Your senses like to work in a team. Think about a ripe mango.

Your eyes see it is yellow. Your nose smells it is sweet. Your skin feels it is soft. Your tongue tastes it. Four senses, one mango!

5Your senses keep you safe

Senses do not only bring you nice things. They also warn you.

Your nose smells smoke, so you run outside. Your ears hear a car, so you wait. Your skin feels a hot pot, so you pull your hand back fast. Your body is looking after you all day long.

Try it yourself

Answer each one in your head first. The answers are underneath. No peeping until you have tried!

1. Ishimwe hears his friend calling him. Which sense organ did he use?
2. Which sense tells you that a cup of tea is too hot to hold?
3. You are eating sugar cane. Which sense organ tells you it is sweet?
4. Mutesi closes her eyes. Someone puts a slice of pineapple near her nose. She says, “Pineapple!” How did she know?
5. Name two senses you would still have if the room went completely dark.

Answers

1. His ears. Ears give you the sense of hearing.
2. Touch. Your skin feels the heat and warns you before you burn yourself.
3. Your tongue. The tongue gives you the sense of taste.
4. She used her sense of smell. Her nose smelled the pineapple. Her eyes were closed, so she could not see it.
5. Any two of these: hearing, smell, taste and touch. Only sight needs light. The other four still work in the dark.