The human body and senses

Our bodies have many parts, and each part has a job. We find out about the world around us with our five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Each sense uses a part of the body called a sense organ.

Key facts

  • Main parts of the body: head, neck, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, chest, tummy, legs, knees and feet.
  • The five senses and their sense organs: sight – eyes; hearing – ears; smell – nose; taste – tongue; touch – skin.
  • Our tongue tastes sweet, sour, salty and bitter (and savoury) foods. Smell helps us taste too.
  • Our skin feels hot and cold, rough and smooth, soft and hard – and pain, which warns us of danger.
  • Humans need food, water and air to stay alive, and shelter to keep safe and warm.
  • People grow and change: baby → toddler → child → teenager → adult → older adult.
  • Joints such as the elbows, knees, wrists and ankles let the body bend.

Worked examples

Example 1

Label these parts of the body: head, arm, hand, leg, foot.

  1. The head is at the top.
  2. The arms come from the shoulders, and the hands are at the ends of the arms.
  3. The legs hold us up, and the feet are at the ends of the legs.

Answer: head at the top, arms at the sides with hands at the ends, legs at the bottom with feet at the ends

Example 2

Which sense, and which sense organ, would you use to: hear a bird sing, smell a flower, feel a cat’s soft fur?

  1. A song is a sound: we hear it with our ears.
  2. A flower’s scent goes up our nose: smell.
  3. Feeling how soft something is uses our skin: touch.

Answer: hearing (ears), smell (nose), touch (skin)

Example 3

Put these in order, youngest first: adult, baby, teenager, child, toddler.

  1. Everyone starts as a baby. A baby who is learning to walk is a toddler.
  2. Then we are children until about 12, and teenagers from 13 to 19.
  3. Last comes adult.

Answer: baby → toddler → child → teenager → adult

Example 4

Amira was 112 cm tall last year. Now she is 118 cm. How much has she grown?

  1. How much she grew = height now − height last year. 118 − 112 = 6
  2. She has grown 6 cm.

Answer: 6 cm