Exploring Sense of Smell with Baby

The other morning, a sweet smell of orange filled our kitchen as my almost 3 yr old peeled some mandarins. I gathered some peelings, put them into clear salt & pepper shakers and let my almost 5 month old explore her senses....

 

I love observing babies as they explore new items in the environment.

She focused so intently on the orange peels.

She explored with her mouth, hands, eyes and nose.

So simple, and beautiful to watch.

Baby Fabric Basket - a Tactile Experience

For simplicity, I gathered light colored fabrics with very different textures from around the house.
 

Baskets provide the opportunity to sit and play, which is a new skill for her.

I love the surprised look on her face ... 

She seemed to enjoy the netted material as she'd continually return to this one after exploring others. 

Feeling tulle against her face and mouth.

Here she is feeling a silky fabric with her feet.

From newborn through the time my daughter was unable to sit and play, we'd explore her sense of touch with different objects on her cheeks, hands and belly (i.e: feathers, soft blanket, warm washcloth, cool washcloth on the cheek, and massage lotion).

DIY Sound Jars

My daughter at 25 months loves her sound jars. Here's how we made them.

 

 

I bought Paper Mache containers and a shadow box from Michael's Crafts. I filled the containers with materials found around the home. The idea is to find items that will sound very different when you shake them, and to fill two containers of each:

 

 

When I was done filling, I hot glued the lids to the containers and marked the pairs (one with a blue and one with a red dot). On the bottom I marked the containers with matching colors to indicate pairs so the children can check their work.

 

 

After that, it's time to shake it! Wow am I glad I made these ... they get used all the time!

 

If you are inspired to make your own, please share - I'd love to see what you come up with.

DIY Smelling Jars

One of the most popular trays on our shelves is our DIY Smelling Jars. Today I'm sharing how I created them:

 

 

I purchased the jars and wooden box at Hobby Lobby. My 4 YO son came with me and picked out the materials. It was important that he was involved in choosing materials as this was going to be his work.

 

 

Inside of our jars I placed a cotton ball with different fragrance oils. We have mint, strawberry, lemon, coconut and vanilla fragrances.

 

Here are two examples I pulled out for show. The tops are marked with red and blue dots (they match a red jar to a blue jar) ...

 

and bottoms are marked with stickers so the children can check their own work. If they did their work correctly, the stickers will match.

25 months 

\

 

Yes, these jars are glass. We are working to switch a lot of our plastic to glass for many reasons. If you're not comfortable with glass, there are many alternatives. In a recent post: Tactile Bean Bag Match, my daughter might inspire you to create some smelling bags, or you could use plastic containers instead.

 

If you're inspired to create your own, please share them with me - I'd love to see them!

DIY Tactile Bean Bag Match

Today I'm introducing a matching game I created for my 2-4 year olds.

 

 I made two sets of bean bags, and found a few items (different in touch/feel) around the home for filling.

 

 

How my bags are filled:

two bags filled with noodles

two with small pine cones

two bags with foam cubes

two bags with cotton balls

 

This can be played many different ways.

When my kids play independently, they simply feel and remove matches from the basket.

 

 When I set this up for my 2 yo and I to play together, I placed one set on the left and the other on the right.

 

As you can see in the picture above, she trying to explore these with all of her senses, including smell. We recently made smelling jars (post to come), and if we didn't have those, I would have been inspired to make her a set of bags to match by smell.

 

When she found a match, she placed them in the basket.

 

After playing with this activity for a few weeks, I found the way my daughter enjoys most:

1. I place one set on the table, and the other across the room.
2. We choose a bag for her to feel from the table set. We talk about how it feels.
3. I ask her to find the match that feels just like it.  
4. I hold the bag while she sets out to feel for the match across the room.
5. She brings the match back to the table to see if she's correct. 

Playing this way is a huge win as she asks to play over and over again. And I love the movement involved in her play.

 

Enjoy!