I Have 5 Senses: Smell

February is here!

Letter: V
Shape: Heart
Number: 7
Color: Pink

Literature: Book: Smelling by Robin Nelson
Book: The Respiratory System by Judith Jango-Cohen
Books: Scratch and Sniff Tea Party and Scratch and Sniff Bake Sale
Share: Bring something to smell

Art: Scented Watercolors!

I usually make scented watercolors by mixing sugar free Kool Aid in a little bit of water. When the paint is dry it is scratch and sniff! Unfortunately, with the snow last week, I didn't make it to the store to get kool-aid. I read online that you can do the same thing with Jell-o, so the kids enjoyed painting letter Vv with peach jell-o scented watercolors. It was much more fragrant in liquid form than kool aid paints are, but I don't think the color or consistency of the paint made with Jell-o is as good as the kool aid paints, and it was sticky when it dried. I will definitely stick with kool aid watercolors in the future. The children loved that they could smell their paint, though! Quincy kept saying, "this paint is made from orange popsicles!"

Sensory: Smelly Canisters

My sister sent me a bunch of the containers that her diabetes test strips come in. They look those little black canisters that camara film used to come in (or maybe it still does, I just don't know because everything is digital these days) and were perfect for this sensory activity.

I scented several cotton balls with candy flavoring, spices, perfume, and essential oils (orange, vanilla, banana, peppermint, almond, warm cookie, lemon, watermelon, tea rose, and fresh linen) and stuffed one cotton ball into each canister.
The children took turns smelling the cansiters and guessing the smells. Some they got right away (cookies, banana, lemon, peppermint ("candy cane!"), and some they insisted were to stinky to smell and guess (linen....LOL I guess clean laundry is only a smell that appeals to adults!)

This was a great activity to help develop descriptive vocabulary words, as they had a difficult time coming up with words to describe what they were smelling. (I imagine that for an adult, it would feel like trying to describe salt with a word other than "salty"), but a few they came up with were, "yucky, spicy, delicious, sour, candy, christmas, good, yummy, and bad"

Peace Corner: Sound and Shape Matchup File Folder Games

I decided to try putting something new in the Peace Center, this week. Peace Corner activities usually include books or a silent activity that a child can take to a quiet place and work on during open centers time. The file folder games were a hit, and took just long enough to complete to create a smooth transition from one center to another.

Handwriting/Phonics: Letter Vv is for Valentine

I gave the children scented color pencils, and the kids began the process of writing the letter V on lined paper with pencils with scents like cherry, orange, lemon, green apple, blueberry, grape, chocolate, and black licorice

While they practiced, I gave them each a Valentine to glue on their page.

Math: Separate good smells (air freshener, dryer sheet, perfume, lemon, lotion, cinnamon) from stinky smells (skunk, onion, diaper, garlic, garbage, gas station) on a chart

Science: The Resipiratory System this book has great illustrations and diagrams of a nose and made it easy to explain how we smell in terms that a 4 year old can understand. (smells are in the air. We breate air through our nose. Our nose helps our brain tell us what the smell is.) We talked about the uses of our nose (cleans and warms the air you breathe in, smelling, breathing, and holding up your sunglasses)

Science: Skunks use their scent to keep away predators (show photos of a skunk)

Language Question: What is your favorite thing to smell? What is something that is stinky? Why do you like/dislike these smells? What is Valentine's Day? I often ask the children questions related to our unit study, and record their answers. At the end of the school year, I type the answers and give a little booklet to the parents on graduation day.

Snack: We'll be eating on heart shaped plates this month (below is Max giving a "Sour Face")

Music and Movement: 3 Valentines, The Hokey Pokey, and The Number Jump Song

We missed you, Jace and Jacob! Hope to see you on Wednesday (if it doesn't snow again...eek!)