Children

Sensory games: activities that stimulate the sense of smell

Sensory games ( very important in Montessori pedagogy ) are particularly useful activities for children who, by playing, have the opportunity to refine their perceptive skills.

The sensory activities to do with children that I have already had the opportunity to talk about here on Fertile Period are those suitable for stimulating sight , touch , taste and hearing . So today it’s time to get to know some useful games that stimulate the sense of smell to offer to your little ones.

The sense of smell

The sense of smell is the oldest and most powerful of our senses yet perhaps the most underrated. However, the ability to smell and perceive smells and perfumes is very important. In fact, the sense of smell is not only closely linked to our sense of taste , but the ability to recognize smells and perfumes is able to evoke memories or to have a calming or exciting effect on children. For this reason Montessori herself has deemed it important to think of sensory exercises capable of stimulating children to recognize smells and perfumes and to measure their degree of intensity.

Activities and games that stimulate the sense of smell

Playing games and experiments based on the sense of smell helps children not only to discover and recognize different smells and scents and to pick up nuances from similar smells and scents, but it stimulates them to learn more about their surroundings.

Games on the sense of smell are those that involve smell tests. According to the Montessori method, fun olfactory activities can be proposed using materials that we have at home (cheese, vinegar, garlic, onion, coffee beans, oranges, tangerines, perfumes, soap, bubble bath) or that we find while walking in the park (flowers, herbs). Materials to smell don’t necessarily have to be pleasant, they can also include things that smell.
The children will have to express the sensations they experienced, describe and comment which smells and perfumes they liked and which they didn’t. You can also play olfactory games with your eyes closed or blindly, then asking the children to guess which product they smelled with their nose.
But let’s see in particular some games to play

The game of bottles or cylinders

In Montessori education, doing exercises with smelling bottles is a classic of sense of smell games. The typical presentation is to give the children two sets of bottles or containers with corresponding smells (you can put natural essences inside). The children are then asked to smell the contents and to match the smells of each set. The aim is to sharpen the sense of smell by helping children to recognise, name and match the smells and scents they hear.

Still in Montessori style and based on the same exercise (recognizing smells and making the right combinations) there are also two games -certainly more commercial but equally useful and fun- to stimulate the sense of smell and nice to give as a gift

The olfactory sachets

The homemade version of Montessori bottles is represented by olfactory bags. It is simply a question of placing material to smell such as sage, rosemary, mint, garlic, onion, lavender, chamomile, coffee beans, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla pods or whatever one has it available as long as it smells (it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad). The children will have to smell, describe the type of smell felt and look for the bag with the same smell. You can then check if the child has guessed correctly by checking the contents of the matching bags.

The olfactory game of cotton balls

The mechanism of this game is similar to that of the bags, only in this case cotton balls are used . These must be soaked in liquids that have a smell (vinegar, lemon, cinnamon essence, vanilla or whatever is available) and numbered.
Children will have to recognize the smell and tell where it comes from.

The olfactory game with wooden sticks

The same exercise can also be done with wooden sticks which, suitably numbered and soaked in essential oils (mint, lemon, lavender, pine or whatever is available) must be smelled and recognized by the children.

The mysterious dough to recognize smells

Another very fun olfactory game is that of homemade scented modeling clays . In practice it is a game within a game because not only can children enjoy modeling and playing with their hands with safe dough, but they will also be stimulated to recognize its smells. In fact, when creating the paste, you will have to create scented balls with drops of natural essences.

The game of the olfactory tray

As I have said, the ability to recognize smells and scents is also able to bring back memories. Here then is a useful but also very tender olfactory game. It’s about putting objects with a recognizable themed smell on a tray. In this case, for example, a tray was prepared with typical Christmas items. Children smelling the aroma of Christmas biscuits, cinnamon, panettone, smelling the fresh smell of a sprig of fir or intense musk will associate these with Christmas.
The same game can be played at other times of the year with festivities and themed scented objects.

These are just some of the games that stimulate the sense of smell that you can play with your children. However, you can always invent others, remembering that discovering smells and perfumes is always useful because it allows you to:

  • refine individual perceptions through the use of the nose
  • stimulate attention and select pleasant and unpleasant experiences,
  • observe reality and know how to describe it verbally
  • share experiences
Dr Kathryn Barlow

Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.

Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.

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