Science, Life Science

Grade 1- 3

Objective

Students learn the location of different taste buds in their mouths.

Directions

1. Tell students that taste buds cover their tongues. The interesting thing about a taste bud is that its location in the mouth determines how something will taste when that item touches the taste bud.
2. Have students try this experiment to find the different locations.
3. Ask the students to sprinkle a little sugar on their tongues, paying attention to where the sugar is when they taste it. This is where their taste buds for sweet foods are located.
4. Do the same with the remaining materials, one at a time. Lemon juice will find their sour buds, salt will find their salt buds, and tonic water will find their bitter buds.
5. Have the students color the tongue pattern according to the directions on the page.
6. Have students cut out the mouth on the face pattern and insert the tongue through the mouth. Then they can glue the tongue in place.

Resources

• Taste Buds pattern (one per student)
• sugar
• lemon juice
• salt
• tonic water
• scissors
• crayons
• glue