How does your skin feel a feather or an ice cube?

Close your eyes and picture a feather brushing your arm. Soft and tickly, isn't it? Now picture an ice cube on that same spot. Brr!

Your skin feels both of them right away. Yet they feel so different. So how does your skin feel a feather or an ice cube? Let's find out together.

Your skin is full of tiny feelers, far too small to see. They sit just under the top of your skin, all over your body. You have them on your fingers, on your cheeks, and even on the tips of your toes. Their job is to notice what touches you.

When the feather brushes your arm, it gives your skin a very soft push. Even a light feather presses down on your skin a tiny bit. Some of the tiny feelers notice that soft push. Now your skin knows something is touching it.

Other tiny feelers notice cold instead. Your skin is warm, and the ice cube is very cold. The ice takes warmth away from your skin. These cold feelers notice your skin getting chilly.

Each feeler is joined to nerves, thin threads that carry messages. The feeler sends a quick message along the nerves. Zip! Where do you think that message goes?

The nerves carry it all the way to your brain, inside your head. Your brain gets the message super fast. It reads the message and knows just what touched you. Then you feel it: soft and tickly, or cold and chilly!

Nerves. Skin feelers notice the push or cold, and your nerves tell your brain. That is how a feather feels soft and tickly, and ice feels cold.

Sleep tight, and give your clever skin a gentle pat tonight.