Sense of taste online exercise - Free Printable

Let’s solve this step by step.

We have four taste categories:
- salty
- sour
- sweet
- bitter

And we have many food items to sort into these categories based on how they taste.

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Step 1: Think about each food item and what it tastes like.

Top right group (first set of foods):

- Donut with pink frosting → sweet
- Strawberry → sweet
- Cake with icing → sweet
- Cookie → sweet or salty? Usually sweet, but some are salty-sweet — let’s say sweet for now
- Apple → sweet (sometimes tart, but mostly sweet)
- Pickle → sour
- Chocolate squares → sweet
- Broccoli → bitter (especially if raw or steamed plain)
- Bag of chips → salty
- Lemon slice → sour

Bottom right group (second set of foods):

- Ice cream cone → sweet
- Watermelon slice → sweet
- French fries → salty
- Mushroom → umami, but often considered bland or slightly bitter — let’s put under bitter for simplicity in this context
- Pistachio nut → can be salty or sweet — if unsalted, maybe slightly bitter/nutty; if salted, salty. Let’s assume plain → bitter
- Lime → sour
- Garlic → bitter/pungent — definitely not sweet or salty → bitter
- Coffee cup + beans → bitter
- Kiwi → sweet-tart → mostly sweet
- Tomato → can be sweet or sour depending on ripeness — usually mildly sweet/tangy → let’s say sweet

Wait — we need to match them correctly to the four tastes.

Let’s list all foods and assign one primary taste:

From top right:
1. Donut → sweet
2. Strawberry → sweet
3. Cake → sweet
4. Cookie → sweet
5. Apple → sweet
6. Pickle → sour
7. Chocolate → sweet
8. Broccoli → bitter
9. Chips → salty
10. Lemon → sour

From bottom right:
11. Ice cream → sweet
12. Watermelon → sweet
13. Fries → salty
14. Mushroom → bitter (in basic taste education, sometimes grouped here)
15. Pistachio → if unsalted, bitter; if salted, salty — since no info, let’s go with bitter as default for nuts in this context
16. Lime → sour
17. Garlic → bitter
18. Coffee → bitter
19. Kiwi → sweet
20. Tomato → sweet (ripe tomato is sweet)

Now group them:

Salty:
- Chips
- Fries
→ That’s 2 items

But wait — cookie? Some cookies are salty. But in kids’ worksheets, cookie = sweet.
Pistachio? If it’s roasted and salted, it’s salty — but again, without info, better to stick with common associations.

Actually, let’s double-check standard elementary school taste sorting:

Common examples:

- Salty: chips, fries, pretzels, salted nuts
- Sour: lemon, lime, pickle, vinegar
- Sweet: candy, cake, fruit, ice cream
- Bitter: coffee, dark chocolate, broccoli, garlic, grapefruit

In our list:

Chocolate is milk chocolate? Probably sweet. Dark chocolate would be bitter — but image shows two brown squares — likely milk chocolate → sweet.

So revise:

Salty:
- Chips
- Fries
→ Only 2? Wait — maybe cookie? No, cookie is sweet. What about pistachio? If it’s shown as green inside shell, probably unsalted → bitter.

But let’s look again at the images:

Top right:
- Donut → sweet
- Strawberry → sweet
- Cake → sweet
- Cookie → sweet (round, dotted — looks like sugar cookie)
- Apple → sweet
- Pickle → sour
- Chocolate → sweet (two squares, smooth — milk chocolate)
- Broccoli → bitter
- Chips → salty
- Lemon → sour

Bottom right:
- Ice cream → sweet
- Watermelon → sweet
- Fries → salty
- Mushroom → bitter (commonly used in bitter examples for kids)
- Pistachio → bitter (unsalted nut)
- Lime → sour
- Garlic → bitter
- Coffee → bitter
- Kiwi → sweet
- Tomato → sweet (red, ripe)

So final grouping:

Salty:
- Chips
- Fries
→ 2 items

Sour:
- Pickle
- Lemon
- Lime
→ 3 items

Sweet:
- Donut
- Strawberry
- Cake
- Cookie
- Apple
- Chocolate
- Ice cream
- Watermelon
- Kiwi
- Tomato
→ 10 items

Bitter:
- Broccoli
- Mushroom
- Pistachio
- Garlic
- Coffee
→ 5 items

Wait — that’s 2 + 3 + 10 + 5 = 20 items. Good.

But is tomato really sweet? In taste tests for kids, tomato is often classified as “umami” or “savory”, but since we only have 4 categories, and it’s not salty, sour, or bitter, sweet is closest.

Similarly, kiwi is tart but still mostly sweet.

Now, let’s check if any should be moved.

What about mushroom? Some might argue it’s not bitter — but in many educational materials, mushrooms are listed under bitter for simplicity.

Garlic — definitely bitter/pungent.

Coffee — classic bitter.

Broccoli — yes, bitter when cooked plain.

Pistachio — if unsalted, has a slight bitterness.

So seems okay.

But wait — the worksheet probably expects specific matches. Maybe I missed something.

Another way: perhaps the cookie is meant to be salty? Unlikely.

Or maybe the chocolate is dark? But it doesn’t look dark.

Perhaps the pistachio is salted? The image shows a green nut in a beige shell — typical representation of pistachio, which is often sold salted. Hmm.

To be safe, let’s consider common classroom answers.

Typical sorting:

Salty: chips, fries, maybe cookie? No.

Actually, let’s count again with more precision.

List all 20 items with assigned taste:

1. Donut - sweet
2. Strawberry - sweet
3. Cake - sweet
4. Cookie - sweet
5. Apple - sweet
6. Pickle - sour
7. Chocolate - sweet
8. Broccoli - bitter
9. Chips - salty
10. Lemon - sour
11. Ice cream - sweet
12. Watermelon - sweet
13. Fries - salty
14. Mushroom - bitter
15. Pistachio - ? Let's say salty (if we assume it's salted, which is common)
16. Lime - sour
17. Garlic - bitter
18. Coffee - bitter
19. Kiwi - sweet
20. Tomato - sweet

If pistachio is salty, then:

Salty: chips, fries, pistachio → 3
Sour: pickle, lemon, lime → 3
Sweet: donut, strawberry, cake, cookie, apple, chocolate, ice cream, watermelon, kiwi, tomato → 10
Bitter: broccoli, mushroom, garlic, coffee → 4

That adds to 20.

But is pistachio typically salty? Yes, most commercial pistachios are salted. So probably salty.

Similarly, cookie — almost always sweet.

Tomato — debatable, but in many sources, it's listed as sweet for kids.

Kiwi — sweet.

So revised:

Salty:
- Chips
- Fries
- Pistachio (assuming salted)
→ 3 items

Sour:
- Pickle
- Lemon
- Lime
→ 3 items

Sweet:
- Donut
- Strawberry
- Cake
- Cookie
- Apple
- Chocolate
- Ice cream
- Watermelon
- Kiwi
- Tomato
→ 10 items

Bitter:
- Broccoli
- Mushroom
- Garlic
- Coffee
→ 4 items

Total: 3+3+10+4=20. Perfect.

Now, to present the answer clearly.

Final Answer:

Salty: Chips, Fries, Pistachio
Sour: Pickle, Lemon, Lime
Sweet: Donut, Strawberry, Cake, Cookie, Apple, Chocolate, Ice Cream, Watermelon, Kiwi, Tomato
Bitter: Broccoli, Mushroom, Garlic, Coffee