To incorporate taste into a lesson on the senses, you can provide new snacks that the children have had limited contact with. Appropriate foods are ones that are healthy, and safe. Never provide nuts to children in a school setting because of the risk of severe allergies. You should always ask parents if their children have allergies to foods, and keep record of all allergies each child has. Offer foods that all children can consume. So if one child is allergic to broccoli you should not offer that item at a sensory table. During a taste lesson you should supervise closely, but not hinder a child's freedom to choose the foods she wants to eat.
Present children with a "what's missing?" lesson. Set out a box of items, and set them all out on the table with the children watching. Then ask them to close their eyes, and remove an item. Have them open their eyes, and ask them what is missing. Continue the game by taking different items away. After you have worked with them for several minutes, have the children take over on their own.
Scratch and sniff paint, scented pencils, and crayons are excellent items for a smell sensory table. Set out blank white paper, or if you want to provide extra help with fine motor skills you can set out coloring books. You can also ask the children to draw what they smell. Another idea is to mix sight with smell, and offer items that the children must smell before eating.
Provide different musical instruments such as cymbals, toy piano, or a recorder. You could also set up pots and pans with wooden drum sticks. This activity will become extremely loud, and if you are in a preschool with other classrooms you should limit the time to no more than 10 minutes. The children should be allowed to experience this activity with free play; there should be no structure to this activity.
Set out different materials for the children to touch. You could provide play dough, fabric, glue, salt, sugar, or mud. Set out several items at once or rotate them. Provide paper for mud drawings or allow them to glue pieces of fabric to poster board. Another option is to provide fabric or texture books. Such books offer different textures such as sand paper, cotton, fleece and glitter for the children to enjoy.