Best Books for the Five Senses

We are starting to dive into our next unit- the five senses. Given the importance that sensorial activities have in a primary Montessori education, it's a great place to start and incredibly easy to integrate with Montessori activities.  As always, our first stop to building our shelves was the library.  Stay tuned for more posts about five senses activities and, eventually, a tour of our shelves.  And, check out my Five Senses pintrest page for more ideas!

Here are our favorite books on the five senses for early learners:

1. Hello, Ocean!  This is a beautifully illustrated book. The poetic text is a great way to introduce young readers to different writing styles.  Poetry is especially important within a Montessori education as it highlights the beauty of language.  Introducing poetry early on provides for a basis for a love of poetry later in life.
2. Rain. Another book with great illustrations- simple and colorful. Sing-song and repetitive text that is simple enough for a young child to quickly memorize and recite.
3. Forest Friends Five Senses.  Q-ball loves this book. Like many children this age, she's currently working on role playing going to the doctor over and over and over and over.  Within this book, the forest friends each have to take a trip to Owl (the doctor) to get one of their senses corrected. I ultimately want to use this book to encourage Q-ball to create her own story about the five senses. 
4. My Five Senses.  Great introductory book to the five senses. Simple text and illustrations.  
5. Kevin's Big Book of the Five Senses.  I must admit, this author is not always my favorite.  But, I do enjoy this book.  It's highly interactive.  It's scaffolds activities by introducing the sense, giving examples, and then encouraging the child to find examples in her life.
6. Bats at the Beach. We love this series of books!  I was excited to see how easily they fit with a five senses unit. Nearly every page includes a very descriptive verse that relates to one of the five senses. After mastering knowledge of the senses, the child should be able to read this book and identify the sense described.