Smells Like

Are you a smart smeller?

Giving children the opportunity to get in touch with their senses can help make them better observers – a child who is tuned in not only to what they are seeing, but to what they are hearing, smelling, touching and tasting as well, is armed with a complete toolbox as they work to understand the world around them. Try this activity to help kids become more familiar with their sense of smell.

Preparation

You’ll need to prepare the “smelly cups”. A good option is using extracts found in the baking aisle of the supermarket. Extracts can be found in flavors like strawberry, mint, maple, almond, orange, lemon, vanilla, etc., and they are very strong—a little goes a long way! Put a few drops on a cotton ball, drop the cotton ball into the film canister or cup, and it should last for a while. Make at least 5 sets of smells for each team.

If you are using cups instead of film canisters, find a way to cover up the cups. This will keep the smell fresh for longer.
Label the canisters or cups on the outside with some code (ex. Instead if writing “lemon”, write “#1”, which you will know is lemon).
If you’d rather not use extracts, you can try using real items, like coffee grounds, lemon peel, etc.

Suggested Materials

Small containers, such as film canisters or small cups, preferably with lids
Cotton balls
Smelly stuff (see Preparation below)

Optional Materials

Blindfolds (one for each team)

Opening Discussion

Ask your students what some of their favorite smells are. What are some smells they don’t like? Make a list on a chalkboard or piece of chart paper of the group’s “favorite smells” and “least favorite smells”.

The Challenge

Think you can guess what something is just by smelling it?

Doing the Activity

Divide your students into teams of 2 or 3.
In their teams, have children try to guess what the smells are in each container. Let them share their thoughts together in their teams and try to come up with a consensus.

Let’s Talk About It

After 5-10 minutes, bring your students together to share their observations with each other. Is it easy to tell what’s what? Have them share their guesses of what is in each container—does every team agree? Write each container number on chart paper or a chalkboard and record their guesses. If they can’t tell what a smell is, ask them if it reminds them of anything. Next, tell them what the smells are, but not which containers they are in. Does that change any of their guesses? Finally, share with them what smells are in which container.

Build On What They Talked About

After the discussion, have your students go back to their teams and challenge each other to guess what they smell while blindfolded. Have one student, the “smeller”, place a blindfold over their eyes (or simply close their eyes) while the other team members choose a smell and hold it under the smeller’s nose. Can they guess what it is? Students should switch roles so everyone has a chance to try.

Suggestions

After the activity, take a class survey of which smells from the activity were the favorites and which were the least favorite.
Another extension, and one that is great for pairing children up, is to have pairs of unlabeled smelly cups (ex. 2 strawberries, 2 vanillas, etc.), hand them out randomly and ask the class to smell their containers, then find their partners using just their noses.