98 The Five Senses: Supplemental Guide 4A | I Use My Tongue to Taste
Say “taste buds” along with me.Taste buds tell your brain whether something tastes good or bad.
There are over 10,000 taste buds in your mouth! Show image 5A-3: Four tastes
[Point to the different types of tastes as you say them.]
In certain spots on your tongue, you have special taste buds to
identify four different types of tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, and sour
Remember: identify means to find out.[Point to the different foods and have student repeat the different tastes with
you: sweet, salty, bitter, sour.]
Desserts usually taste sweet because they contain sugar. Pretzel
sticks and pizza taste salty. A little salt can make foods more
flavorful. Flavorful means the food has a strong and pleasant taste.
Coffee tastes bitter and usually has an unpleasant taste. Lemons
taste sour, and most people think that sour is not a pleasant taste. Show image 5A-4: Child with sour face eating lemon
What kind of face do you make when you taste something sour?[Call on a student to demonstrate.]
What is this boy doing? Does he like it?[Call on a student to answer.]
If it’s something really sour, like a raw lemon, most people pucker
up—they suck in their lips like fish, squint their eyes, and wrinkle their
noses.[Make a face as if you have tasted something sour. Have students pretend like
they have tasted something sour.]
Show image 5A-6: Boy eating fried chicken
Your sense of taste helps you enjoy your food. But did you know that
your sense of smell helps you enjoy your food, too? In fact, both your
sense of taste and your sense of smell work together to help you
figure out what your food tastes like.[Point to your nose and tongue.]