Description

Our sense of smell is a powerful revolutionary tool that can trigger certain signals in the brain – whether to identify if there is danger around (fire), or whether food is edible or not.  Be aware, smells can be dangerous.  It is important that the Child first asks an adult, whether it is safe to sniff something strange, before actually sniffing it.

The Smelling Bottles form part of the Montessori Sensorial curriculum.  Place a few drops of essential oils, from ingredients with distinctive smells in the bottle.  Alternatively, if you are using a solid material (mint leaf), you could hide it in cotton wool; inside the bottle; unless the Child is wearing a blindfold.  Let the Child experiment, and challenge themselves to identify as many smells as possible.

Features of the Smelling Bottles:

• the direct objective for the Child, is to;
  • identify, and match a smell against the smell in a control bottle
• indirectly, the Child;
  • improves their sense of smell
  • learns to name new smells
  • understands the need for safety
• this activity forms part of the Montessori sensorial curriculum

Suggested materials you can use for smells are:

• cinnamon sticks
• fresh mint leaves
• coffee granules
• fresh cloves
• vinegar

Contents of the Smelling Bottles:

• 8 glass bottles; 4 with red, and 4 with black, removable flip top lids
  • generally, the black tops are the control bottles
• transport and store the bottles on the pine plywood tray
• cover the Child’s eyes with a blindfold, so they cannot see what they are smelling

Size:

• tray – 20cm x 11.5cm x 6cm / (8.5″ x 6″ x 2″)
• bottle – 8cm (h) x 4.5cm (dia) / (3″ x 1¾”)

Related Products:

• Mortar Pestle – when the Child crushes the product in this activity, they also activate their olfactory senses.
• The Blindfold – this forms part of the Smelling Bottles activity, and is used in a number of other sensorial activities, when the Child’s visual sense is “taken away”, to enhance other senses.

Further Reading and Resources:

1) “Each (bottle) jar in the first set has a mate in the second set.  The Child combines the pairs by carefully smelling each jar.  The teacher uses this exercise as an opportunity to build the Child’s vocabulary”  A Parent’s Guide to the Montessori Classroom by Aline D. Wolf.

2) Why you should train your sense of smell? – Science Norway by Marianne Nordahl

A smell can bring back childhood memories of warm sunny days, of autumn forests, of various foods. We might link the smell of autumn to wet pine needles or a hot day with the smell of straw. Smell is linked to memory. This is because neurons link the olfactory areas of the brain with memory areas so that the signal of a known smell triggers both.

https://youtu.be/ymzepNeNs6o – Smelling Bottles: A Montessori Sensorial Activity