The senses

📖 In short

The senses are the windows through which we know the world around us. Most people know five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. But the body has other senses too, like balance, hunger and thirst!

🤩 Did you know?

Blind people read with their fingers using Braille.
Some animals have senses we don't, like the bat, which “sees” with echoes.
The tongue and nose work together to recognize the taste of food.
Your fingertips are among the most touch-sensitive places on your body.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 The five senses

We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nose, taste with our tongue, and feel touch, heat and pain with our skin. Each sense sends messages to the brain so it can understand them.

🔍 The sense of balance

Inside your ear are tiny tubes with liquid in them that tell your brain whether you're standing, leaning or spinning. That's why you feel dizzy if you spin around a lot.

💡 Where's my hand?

Close your eyes and touch your nose with your finger. How did you know where your hand was without seeing it? It's a sense that tells you where the parts of your body are.

🎯 Senses working together

The senses work together: when you eat an apple you see it, smell it, taste it, hear it crunch and feel its texture. And if someone loses a sense, their other senses get stronger to help.

📸 More pictures

🧩 Test yourself

1 Which organ do we hear with?

2 Where is the sense of balance?

3 Which picture shows “The senses”?