5 Senses Books for Preschoolers

Here’s a collection of the best 5 senses books for preschoolers. These books make the perfect addition to a five senses preschool theme as your little one explores their:

• sense of hearing
• sense of sight
• sense of touch
• sense of sound
• sense of taste

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5 Senses Books for Preschoolers

Hello Ocean by Pam Muñoz Ryan

In Hello Ocean, a young girl explores the beach with her five senses. This book is beautifully illustrated and makes a great book for preschoolers exploring the five senses.

Elmo Can Taste! Touch! Smell! See! and Hear! by Michaela Muntean

This is a perfect book for the youngest of preschoolers learning about their 5 senses. Elmo shares what he knows about smelling, seeing, touching, tasting, and hearing.

Curious George Discovers the Senses by H.A. Rey

In this story, George and The Man with the Yellow Hat have a hole in the roof of their house over their bedrooms so they have to sleep down in the living room. The first night bats fly thru the hole in the roof and George learns that they use their sense of sound to get around. Inspired by the bats, over the next few nights, George explores with his five senses, as he tries to quietly get to the refrigerator without waking up The Man with the Yellow Hat. This is a fun story with great information about the 5 senses for preschoolers.

This is My Body by Gina and Mercer Mayer

In this cute story, Little Critter talks about what the different parts of his body do like his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It’s told with the kind of silly humor preschoolers love.

I Hear a Pickle ( and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!) Rachel Isadora

A great introduction to the 5 senses with everyday things preschoolers will be familiar with. This has wonderful simple text with cute illustrations. I like how this book talks about what the children do and don’t see, hear, taste, smell, or touch. At the end, children discover they can explore a pickle with all 5 senses!

Our 5 Senses Answers in Genesis Mini Magazine

This is an 8-page magazine for kids that takes a look at the 5 senses from a biblical point of view.

Books About Eyes and Sense of Sight

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G Shaw

This book shows clouds shaped like familiar objects. It’s a great book to read before laying outside to look at the clouds together.

The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss

This is a cute story about things a boy and a rabbit see. It is told in simple rhyming text characteristic of Dr. Seuss Books.

We Walk Through the Forest by Lisa Ferland

This story is about a girl and her puppy looking all around to see what they can see. Told in a rhyming sing-along text. Children can act out the story as the little girl and her puppy walk, slink, hop, flutter, and hide on their adventure exploring creatures of the forest.

Moo! Moo! Cock -a-Doodle–Doo!…and Elmo too by Sesame Street

Preschoolers love these First Look and Find books. This one is a Sesame Street farm theme but there are a lot of other First Look and Find books – you’re sure to find one that interests your child.

I Spy Lightning in the Sky

Any of the Level 1 Reader, I Spy Books, would make a great addition to a 5 senses theme for preschoolers. Each is filled with rhyming riddles and cool photos as clues for your preschooler to look for and find the match to the picture.

Books About Sounds

It’s Too Noisy! by Joanna Cole

This is a folktale about a farmer who thought his house was too noisy. He asks a wise man for advice. The advice the wise man gives sounds crazy- but it works!

The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub

This is an awesome book to use for preschoolers exploring the sense of sound! And it comes with a CD! The story is about a fly that speaks jazz and performs in a band with other jazz bugs. When the Queen Bee announces that the band is good but not good enough, the Jazz Fly looks for a new sound and gets help from some of the animals he met earlier that day.

Mr. Putter and Tabby Toot the Horn by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter and Tabby Toot the Horn is actually about Mr. Putter and his neighbor Mrs.Teaberry. Mrs. Teaberry gets the idea that the two of them should join a band – even though neither one of them plays a musical instrument. This is an adorable book to explore musical sounds with and who knows, it may inspire your family to start a band of your own – lol.

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss

This classic Dr. Suess is a fun story about an elephant named Horton who discovers Who-ville on a speck of dust. The jungle neighbors don’t believe there is a Who-ville. They can’t see or hear anyone on the speck. But Horton hears them and believes “a person’s a person, no matter how small,” so he decides to speak up for the people in Who-ville and to keep them safe.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Bill Martin Jr has been a favorite children’s author for decades. The story here is told in simple text asking Polar Bear what he hears. The colorful illustrations let younger children explore the sense of hearing in a fun way. If you like this be sure to check out the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

The Listening Walk by Paul Showers

In this story, a girl describes the sounds she hears during a walk she takes with her dad and their dog. This is a fun story with lots of interesting sound effects. A perfect story to read when learning about the sense of hearing.

Books About Taste

How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R Friedman

In this book, a young girl tells the story of how her Dad, an American soldier stationed in Yokohama learned to eat with chopsticks. And how her mom, a Japanese schoolgirl, learned to eat with a fork and knife before they got married. This would be a great book to read before exploring new foods from another country or just ordering Chinese takeout and trying to eat with chopsticks.

Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison

Louann is a bear getting ready to hibernate. But before she does she makes a dozen doughnuts. But then friends come to visit and she ends up making batch after batch of doughnuts with none left to get her through the winter. But… her friends are very aware of how kind she was to them.

Sense of Touch Books for Preschoolers

There are lots of touch-and-feel books your preschooler can explore. I have shared a few of my favorites on this list. Other books listed here explore the sense of touch and texture as a preschool science theme.

Touch That! by Sally Hewitt

This book explores the sense of touch. It’s part of the Let’s Start! Science series. This would be a good choice for older preschoolers who are ready to learn more about the sense of touch. The book is divided into 2-page chapters with lots of interesting photos, questions, and activities. The other books in the Let’s Start Science series are: Hear This!, Smell It!, Tastes Good!, and Look Here!

The Busy Spider by Eric Carl

Written in rhythmic text, this is a wonderful book to give children the experience of seeing a busy spider build a web. The web is textured throughout the book which makes it fun for your child as they hear, see, and touch what the spider is doing in the story.

Noisy Animals by Libby Walden

This a book that your child can explore their sense of hearing and touch. Pages allow your child to feel each animal as well as hear the animal’s sound.

What is Touch? by Jennifer Boothroyd

This book answers the question, what is touch? It has colorful pictures to explain nerves, temperature, and textures as they relate to the sense of touch, in a way preschoolers will understand.

The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Anderson

This is Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale story of a young lady who shows up at a castle claiming to be a princess. The queen determined to know if this lady was a real princess places a pea on a bed and then has it stacked high with mattresses and quilts because only a real princess would be able to feel a pea through a pile like that. This is my favorite version but there are others. I do want to point out that the last line of the book says, “And that is a true story.” If your preschooler doesn’t have the concept of real and not real down pat, you may want to just skip that line. For older preschoolers, that line can be a great conversation starter.

Spiky, Slimy, Smooth: What is Texture? by Jane Brocket

I love the descriptive text and photos in this book. This book isn’t a touch-and-feel book. Instead, it uses vivid description words to describe items like, knobbly, lumpy, crinkly, gritty, and crackly.

Sense of Smell Books

Pete the Cat and the Mysterious Smell by Kimberly and James Dean

This is a fun mystery adventure for preschoolers as they explore the sense of smell. Pete the Cat and his friends notice a sticky smell. They look around the school for the smell. Preschoolers will have fun trying to guess what the mysterious smell is before Pete the Cat and his friends do.

Sid the Science Kid What’s That Smell?

In this story, from Sid the Science Kid, Sid and his friends explore different smells. Sweet ones like cookies and flowers and yucky ones dirty diapers and smelly socks. They also learn why we can smell things far away and other interesting facts about the sense of smell.

Llama Llama Yum, Yum, Yum! by Anna Dewdney

Starting at breakfast, Llama Llama works his way through snack time, lunch, shopping, a special snack, and dinner with fun scratch-and-sniff scents to smell! The text is told in simple rhyming text.

Gladys Goes Out to Lunch by Derek Anderson

This cute book is a fun mystery story for preschoolers. Gladys is a gorilla in the zoo and the only food she will eat is bananas- until one day Gladys smells a delicious sweet smell and follows it.

Be sure to also check out:

• 5 Senses Preschool Activities
• Sink and Float Activities for Preschoolers
• Living and Nonliving Things Activities for Preschoolers

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