First, choose the scents you want to use in your bottles. I chose almond, orange, cinnamon, lemon, peppermint, and vanilla (not pictured) extracts. A good variety of strong scents will be your best bet for being able to sniff them out once they are in the bottles.
Next, take a small cotton ball and soak it with the extract. Then shove the cotton ball into a small bottle or jar. I used travel sized shampoo bottles. They are inexpensive and they have the added bonus of a screw-on top that then pops open. No fear of the kiddos dumping extract all over the place! I also added just a few extra drops of extract directly into the jar. The cotton ball quickly soaks it up and it adds just a little extra punch of smell.
Finally, screw on the top and let the kiddos go to town! This is actually a really fun game for kids of any age, including adults. My husband and some colleagues at work had a blast trying to guess what they were smelling. (I helped myself by putting a clue on the bottom of each bottle in Sharpie.)
For someone of L's age and experience, this was more of a getting-to-know-new-smells kind of activity, but with older kids it's fun to encourage them to try to identify what exactly it is they are smelling.
L didn't really know what she was smelling, but that didn't stop her from trying out each of the bottles!
She even decided to give a few other things a sniff, including her dot markers! Gotta love that sense of curiosity!
Cute idea...I love how you got the hubby and his coworkers on board too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this on Hey Mom, Look What I Did at Adventures In Mommy Land!! Hope to see you again soon :)
Lovely idea ~ I remembr doing something similar when I was a kindergarten ~ we smelled and tasted herbs and spices and tried to identify them. Left a lasting impression :-) Thanks for sharing at Happy Family Times
ReplyDeleteOh, how fun!! Thank you for sharing at Happy Family Times!
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