SMELLS AROUND MY HOME
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K I T TY
CAT
FOOD
GAS
OBJECTIVE:
Through this activity the participant will:
• identify six common household odors using only his sense of smell.
• verbally identify the part of the home environment where this odor could be found.
• verbally describe those same six common odors using words that describe each odor.
SCIENCE THEMES:
Energy, systems and interactions
PROCESS SKILLS:
Observing, comparing, relating, inferring
GRADE LEVELS:
K–1
FOCUS WORDS:
— senses, nose, odor, smell, hear, see, taste, touch, investigate, explore
Smells Around My Home
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MATERIALS:
— Ten sets of six smell canisters. Each canister in a set will have a different "smelly" item found
around the home.
— Room squares depict different rooms around the home, cannisters are place in proper room(s)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Our sense of smell leads us to an awareness so subtle we hardly recognize what we have
learned. A simple sniff of a long forgotten fragrance can take us back to childhood and shower us
with memories. One odor can conjure up a multitude of visual images.
It is exciting to show a child that by increasing the extent to which he uses each sense, he can
heighten his perceptions and awareness of the world around him. It is also important to help
children discover how each sense works by isolating it and giving the child an experience using
only that sense.
In SMELLS AROUND MY HOME we do just that. The child is given a set of canisters with a
common household odor in each. He is directed to smell each one and try to determine in which
room in the home the smell might be. After sniffing each odor, he may verbalize what it means to
him and realize how much unconscious knowledge he has of his environment and how much he
can hypothesize by using one sense alone.
ACTIVITY:
TIME: 15 minutes
SUGGESTED INTRODUCTION:
— We use our five senses to investigate our environment.
— There is a great variety of odors in our home.
— We can distinguish odors, one from another, by using our sense of smell.
— We can associate odors with particular areas of our environment.
Through this activity the participant will:
— Use their sense of smell to identify six common household odors.
— Verbally identify the part of the home environment where this odor could be found.
—Verbally describe those same six common odors using words that describe each odor.
• Place the room squares on a flat surface so they can be easily seen by all participants.
•Have sets of "smell" canisters available to hand out.
Smells Around My Home
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ASK:
RESPONSE:
Who can tell us what our five senses are that we use to investigate our environment?
Seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, touching
SAY:
We use all five of these senses when we investigate our environment.
ASK:
What part of our body do we use when we use our sense of smell?
RESPONSE:
SAY:
Nose
We are all going to use our noses to see if we can recognize some smells we might
find in our home environment.
SAY:
I am going to give each of you six odors to smell. These are all smells you could smell
around your home.
SAY:
After you sniff each smell, see if you can guess what the smell is and where it might
be found in our home environment.
DO:
Encourage questions about the procedure you are going to use in this activity.
DO:
Hand out a "smell canister #1" to each participant,
SAY;
Open your canister and sniff.
ASK:
Can anyone tell us what odor he smelled?
RESPONSE:
Allow participants to open and smell their canisters. Encourage a variety of responses
that name or describe the odor.
ASK:
RESPONSE:
Where, in this home environment do you think you might find this smell?
Encourage a variety of responses that name or describe the rooms in the home where
the "smell" could be.
Smells Around My Home
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DO:
Ask each participant to place his "smell canister" on the "home poster" in the area of
the home where he thinks the smell could be found.
RESPONSE:
Participants will place "smell canisters" in the area of the home on the room square
where the smell would be found.
DO:
Repeat above procedure and questions until all participants have smelled each of the
six smell canisters.
TO GO FARTHER:
ASK:
What other smells do you think of when you think of
___________(name of each area or the home and outside area on the poster).
RESPONSE:
Encourage a variety of responses that name or describe different odors that could be
found in a home environment.
DO:
The teacher can lead the class on a SCHOOLYARD SMELLING SNOOP. Participants
will collect objects which he has smelled. Have each participant make "smelling
canisters" in the room using jars covered with paper or painted so the objects inside
cannot be seen.
Related Activities –
Finger Detectives, tactile awareness
Where’s My Buddy, auditory awareness
Some Useful Words in Spanish senses/sentidos: Tenemos cinco sent idos fisicos. Ellos son la vista, el qusto, el oldo, el tacto, y
el olfato. Los sentidos nos ayudan a aprender acerca de nuestro ambiente.
investigate/investigar: Mirar atentamente con la intencion de descubrir algo especifico acerca
del objeto o lugar o to'pico.
odors/olores, nose/nariz, smelling/oler
A Useful Book Smells, Things To Do With Them, McPhee Gribble Publishers, Penguin Books, Ltd, Australia,
1978
NOTE: This book is full of ideas for crafts projects done with "smells" objects you can find
around a home environment. In it are also lots of background material and interesting facts,
such as, "Garlic is one of the oldest smelly cures known to people. Garlic was often hung in
little bags around people's necks to protect them from germs."
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Smells Around My Home
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