Kids Science Experiments - Wake Up Taste Buds
Surprising Senses Experiment
Wake Up Taste Buds
Materials you will need:
• Blind folds or scarves
• A few friends (to make it fun)
• Different foods & liquids (of choice):
- Sugar Cubes
- Salt
- Ice Cream
- Honey
- Coffee
- Bacon
- Orange slices
- Banana slices
- Lemon Juice/Slices
- Chocolate
- Milk
- Vinegar
• Containers for foods
•Straws to test liquids
•Spoons to dish out food
When choosing the foods and liquids for your experiment select a variety of sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavors. Also, try to select different textures; granules, solids, liquids, smooth and rough. See how many friends you can round up to make this experiment a lot of fun. This is a great science project for a group or class to enjoy. Remember to be kind to your willing participants.
Steps:
1. Find a few friends who are willing to be take part in your experiment.
2. Collect and prepare all the different foods that you are going to use in your test. Cut your straws in half to give you more.
3. Place the blind folds on your friends. Do not let your friends see the foods before the testing begins. Keep them in suspense and see if they can guess the food you have placed on their tongue.
4. Place one item at a time on each persons tongue and see who can guess the items that have been used. Use the straws as dropper and not for sipping by placing the straw in the liquid and positioning your thumb over the top of the straw to trap a drop or two of the liquid.
5. Ask your volunteers to pinch their nose as you place a food item on their tongue and ask if they can guess what item of food it is.
Here are a few questions you could ask your friends when you have finished your experiment:1. How well did your sense of smell kick in when your sense of sight and sense of touch were not in use?
2. Were you a bid afraid of what food might be placed on your tongue?
3. Did any of the above foods taste better or worse with the blind fold on?
4. Did you notice that your tongue discovered the different textures more?
5. What happened when you pinched your nose for the taste test? Did you loose your sense of taste?
6. Did you notice that your tongue sensed sweet, salty, bitter and sour foods on different parts of your tongue?
Taste - Our tongue can detect only four basic flavors.
1. Sweet - detected at the tip of your tongue
2. Salty - detected at the front sides of your tongue
3. Sour - detected along the rear sides of your tongue
4. Bitter - detected across the back of your tongueKids Science Experiments & Science Projects Categories:
© Copyright 2004, Surprising Senses Experiments - Wake Up Taste Buds - www.kids-science-experiments.com