I wanted to do an early five senses activity with Veronika, and thought about the most toddler-friendly material in the house we could use. What could be better than yummy, squishy marshmallows?

We used the large marshmallows from Dandies for this activity, which were better for exploration than the small ones in this case.

To start, I drew a cartoon face showing eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and then labeled each one, along with the word ‘Skin’ on the cheek for the sense of touch. This wasn’t necessary, but provided a nice visual as we moved through each sense.

It was time to go through the senses one by one as we explored our marshmallows! First, I invited Veronika to use her eyes. She loved peering through a magnifying glass, and named the color (white). I had to laugh when my question “What does it look like?” received a very toddler-appropriate answer: “A marshmallow!”

Next we used our nose to smell it. Sweet and sugary!

Now, could we use our ears to discover what it sounded like? The marshmallow itself made no noise, but she liked the soft rubbing noise it produced if I ran my fingers over it.

Time to use our hands! How did it feel? She discovered that it was squishy and plump to the touch on the outside.

But once we broke one open, it was super sticky! “I got sticky on me!” Veronika declared.

Now for the best part: it was time to use the sense of taste. (Ok, she might have been nibbling on another marshmallow during this whole exploration…).

And it sure tasted sweet and yummy!