Body & Senses
What can my skin feel?
Puschel discovers how a smooth stone feels to touch.
The short answer
Your skin contains sensory cells. They report things such as touch, pressure or temperature to the brain. This lets you sense surfaces and temperature differences. Not every body area is equally sensitive.
An imagined Wusel scene
Puschel and Flauschi investigate
Flauschi puts a soft cloth and a large smooth stone on the picnic blanket. Puschel looks at both objects first.
Then he looks away and gently touches the cloth. Puschel“That feels soft. My eyes are having a break!”
Flauschi“In people, nerves send messages about touch from the skin to the brain.”
Puschel strokes the stone. Puschel“This is different. Smooth and firm.” Flauschi explores it too.
Flauschi“We may notice different things.” They look at the objects again. Puschel“My paws joined the discovery!”
Little Wusel quiz
How does touch information reach the brain?
Choose one answer: a), b).
- a)Through nerves
- b)Through blood instead of nerve signals
Show answer
Correct answer: a): Through nerves Nerve cells carry information and the brain processes it.
Can touch reliably tell you whether an unfamiliar object is safe?
Show answer
No. Adults should check the objects first, and dangerous things must not be touched.
Word help
- cell
- A tiny living unit. Living things are made of cells.
- nerve
- A bundle of fibres that carry signals through the body.
Explore in more detail
Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.
Understand step by step
How it works – simply explained
Touch reaches the skin
A soft cloth presses differently from a hard tabletop. Different nerve endings respond to touch, pressure and other stimuli.
Messages reach the brain
Nerves pass signals from the skin onwards. The brain processes these with what you already know. You experience an object as soft or rough.
Touch has limits
You might recognise a familiar cloth with your eyes closed. Feeling an unknown substance does not reliably tell you whether it is dangerous. Explore only objects already checked as safe.
References for this explanation: [1]
The key points again
Discovery 1
Human skin protects the body and also helps us sense our surroundings. That makes it a sensory organ. It helps us sense touch, pressure and temperature, among other things.
Source: [1]
Discovery 2
Special nerve cells in the skin send information to the brain. The brain works out what these messages mean so that we can perceive touch.
Source: [1]
Discovery 3
Touch can help explore properties such as an object’s surface. A smooth stone and a soft cloth can feel different. Touch alone cannot reliably tell us whether an unfamiliar object is safe.
Source: [1]