Smelling Sensory Bottles

For our “My Amazing Body” theme, I made some Smelling Sensory Bottles. Although my version doesn’t really follow the traditional Montessori method because I labeled the jars and it’s not really a matching activity, the kids have really enjoyed them.

It all kind of started with this pickle relish container I put out for the kids to use in the kitchen area. The kids like the flip top cap – which is now missing. I observed them opening the lid, squeezing the bottle near someone’s nose and saying “Smell the fresh air.” So funny! It did not smell like fresh air! Pickle relish! A couple of the parents didn’t think it was pleasant either!

I used spice containers found at our grocery store by the bulk spices. $1.59 each. There’s one cotton ball in each container with an essential oil or extract on it. Essential oils are preferred but I used what I had available. Our scents include:

Stormy got in on the action too and got to smell them all. He didn’t really appreciate it but it was super cute to watch!

Smelling Bottle Scents

Vanilla: this one is an oil used for scenting soaps from Hobby Lobby
Cherry: cherry extract. It smells very much like cherry cough syrup! This one is a give away because it’s red.
Almond: Almond extract or almond oil
Cucumber: Cucumber Melon fragrance oil
Grapefruit: essential oil
Peppermint: essential oil
Lavender: essential oil

My one little girl, amongst all the boys, declared one of the scents “ucky” and tried to throw it away! It’s fun to observe and see what their responses to the scents