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For Children


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Touch and Tell - Sensational Facts

By Josie

09 May 2008

Last year our children here in England were studying "the senses" as part of the National Curriculum. Our Children's Laureate is Michael Rosen, well known children's poet. He wants poetry brought into all lessons. So I did a series of poems which ranged from easy to very difficult on this subject to cover all age groups. Eye Speak which I put on earlier this year was one, and I've written "The Importance of Noses", "What Are You Listening To?" and for very small children (my own little grandchildren's age of 2 and 3) "What Do You See?" (which has lots of pictures for them to identify objects. Here is my poem about the sense of touch which I will gladly link up with Brian's good poem below. A teacher could follow this up with a game: She lays out a series of things and children, blindfolded, have to tell her what they are. I have tried to use as many adjectives as I could in this poem relating to the sense of touch. Children could read/practise this at home the night before the lesson and then perform it, two children per verse - one talking and one replying. They could bring in some objects to display for their particular verse. A good introduction to the subject.

What lies under your finger? Reach down and feel.
“Oh, it’s round and its soft, like a fruit’s outer peel.
    Now this is slippery and slimy, it’s long and it squirms. "
    Well, if it’s all of those things, it may be a worm.

What lies under your finger? Is it large or quite small?
Is it round, do you think, and the shape of a ball?
   It could be quite soft and the shape of a pear.
   “It’s none of these things for it’s hard and it’s square.”

It may be hot, may be cold; squishy, or sticky,
“No, it’s soft and it’s silky – Oh! This one is tricky.
   I think that it’s curly. “ Well, feel it with care,
   I think that you’re touching somebody’s hair.

Is it wet? "No, it’s dry and as soft as a feather."
Is it hard, is it hairy, or perhaps feels like leather?
   Does it cause you to itch, is it sharp, cause you pain?
   What you feel with your finger transmits to your brain.

Copyright 2008
www.whiteheadm.co.uk

Reviews

So Squidgy!
Written by Katanga (209 comments posted) 10th May 2008

Excellent stuff here Josie! Stuffed full of sensuous (in the proper old-fashioned sense of the word!) adjectives.

'Sensational Facts' - what a brilliant title!

I myself have used the 'blindfold' activity with adult students of English as a way of extending their range of 'feely', sensational adjectives. Very kinaesthetic!

Also useful for grammar structures:

It feels + adjective

It feels like + noun

It feels as if + clause

Modal auxilliary verbs of deduction:

It may be, it must be, it can't be, it couldn't be, it might be, it could be

And so on and so forth!

Cheers!

John

To Katanga
Written by Josie (2144 comments posted) 10th May 2008

Many of my poems are directed towards teachers, like yourself John. So your review is very important to me. Thank y ou so much. I also like to hear from people with children, or retired teachers, I have lots of ideas to add to this poem for classroom use. There will be more poems about the senses later. My poem "Daddy's Sneezing Habit" is linked to the senses, but it is just a fun poem for younger children. See below.

SO...VISUAL!!
Written by PuppyWuppy (14 comments posted) 10th May 2008

When reading this I got all these lovely pictures in my head and it was as though I had gone back a few decades back to a little kiddewink, picking about in the garden and discovering scary things in the grass! Loved it!

Written by Josie (2144 comments posted) 10th May 2008

It is funny that you should say that Sade. My little grandchildren came here this week. The little boy (aged 2), wanted to stop to let soil run through his fingers. He'd found a molehole. The little girl (aged almost 4) called me to see a bed of tulips. "Feel this Granny" she said, stroking the soft petals. We have forgotten what it feels to actually FEEL and think about things. When did any adult last stroke the petals of a tulip and get joy from it? Or when did we enjoy the pleasure of etting soil run through the fingers? Touching and learning the feel of the different things is so very, very important. My goodness, I feel another poem coming on. HELP!

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