Games to stimulate the senses 2026

Author: Lidia García-Fresneda

Hearing: Games for fine ears

1. The alarm clock game: this game can be played with one child or several. We are all in a room and a child leaves outside. When he is not in the room, you set the alarm clock to ring in two or three minutes and hide him (in a drawer, behind the sofa..., you have to adapt the difficulty of the hiding place to the child's age). You call the child to come inside and wait for the alarm clock to ring. The child must try to find the alarm clock by following the sounds it makes. It is a simple stimulation game that trains hearing ability and can be played with very young children.

Amazon Essentials by Sofia Grainge - Summer 2026 Promotion

2. The auditory lottery: for this game you have to record various noises, for example a car starting, a door that squeaks when closing, a train that starts moving, a match that lights up, etc. For each recorded sound, you look for an image in magazines, cut them out and paste them on top of some white cards. These are distributed on the ground. You play the tape with the recorded sounds. The game consists of pointing to the card that corresponds to the sound that is heard at all times. Whoever identifies it correctly first keeps the card. The winner is the one with the most cards at the end. In this game, children understand relationships and learn to memorize.

3. Pairs of sounds: to prepare this game, you need some black boxes from the photo reels and various materials such as rice, peas, stones, sand or cotton. You have to fill two empty boxes with each material and write down the contents of each box on a label at the base of it. First you shake one box after another to hear each sound. Then you mix the boxes. The game consists of identifying the boxes that carry the same content through the sounds they make when shaken. Children concentrate on what they hear but at the same time link what they hear with the image of the content of each box. Encourages fantasy and the ability to combine various information.

View: Games that open new perspectives

4. Rainbow: For children, the light is transparent. They have yet to learn that behind this supposed invisibility there is a hidden world of colors that can be visualized. To do this, you can either buy a beveled glass ball that divides the sun's rays into the colors of the spectrum or create, with the jet coming out of the hose, a rainbow. In both cases, it refracts light into colorful rays. Awaken curiosity.

5. Night walks: those who barely see anything, listen with more intensity. This experience strengthens body perception, self-esteem and confidence. Older children learn that they can trust their senses and the people who guide them through the night. Especially interesting are usually the night walks guided by experts from ornithology or environmental associations.

Smell: Games for star noses

6. Moth game: Smell is closely linked to the emotion center in the brain. For this reason, this game encourages the ability to orient yourself by your "own nose" – that is, by your own feelings. You divide the children into two groups. Some represent the females and the others the males. The "females" each add a little scented oil or perfume and hide in nearby places. You give the bottles to the males and they have to try to smell where the "female" that carries this smell is.

Like: Games for hungry children

7. Does it taste like...?Put several bowls on the table. Each bowl should have a different food, take something sweet, something sour, something sticky, something salty, depending on what you have at home. First the children can look at everything there is. Then you put a blindfold on one child and the other children choose what they give him or her to try. Once you have it in your mouth, you have to guess what it is.

Touch: Games to discover the senses

8. Touch it!: Take a sack or bag that should not be transparent and fill it with various things that children should be able to identify only through touch. It can be, for example, a piece of wood, a brush, a toy, a banana – whatever you have at hand.

9. Go barefoot: build an outdoor path by gluing various materials on top of polystyrene plates (felt, backing paper, wool threads, emery paper) and between them put buckets with sand, water or mud. The task is to walk along this path with your eyes closed, guessing the materials you are stepping on. Stimulates touch and encourages openness to new experiences.

1. The alarm clock game: this game can be played with one child or several. We are all in a room and a child leaves outside. When he is not in the room, you set the alarm clock to ring in two or three minutes and hide him (in a drawer, behind the sofa..., you have to adapt the difficulty of the hiding place to the child's age). You call the child to come inside and wait for the alarm clock to ring. The child must try to find the alarm clock by following the sounds it makes. It is a simple stimulation game that trains hearing ability and can be played with very young children.

2. The auditory lottery: for this game you have to record various noises, for example a car starting, a door that squeaks when closing, a train that starts moving, a match that lights up, etc. For each recorded sound, you look for an image in magazines, cut them out and paste them on top of some white cards. These are distributed on the ground. You play the tape with the recorded sounds. The game consists of pointing to the card that corresponds to the sound that is heard at all times. Whoever identifies it correctly first keeps the card. The winner is the one with the most cards at the end. In this game, children understand relationships and learn to memorize.

3. Pairs of sounds: to prepare this game, you need some black boxes from the photo reels and various materials such as rice, peas, stones, sand or cotton. You have to fill two empty boxes with each material and write down the contents of each box on a label at the base of it. First you shake one box after another to hear each sound. Then you mix the boxes. The game consists of identifying the boxes that carry the same content through the sounds they make when shaken. Children concentrate on what they hear but at the same time link what they hear with the image of the content of each box. Encourages fantasy and the ability to combine various information.