When you first step outdoors, do you often take a big whiff of the outside air? Even just the smells of nature can reduce stress and put us in a calmer state of mind. Scientists believe this is because our sense of smell is closely linked to parts of the brain that process emotion and memory- just one whiff of nature can trigger feelings of calm and joy.
There are so many smells in nature to behold- fragrant flowers, damp soil and leaves, cut grass, and fresh rain. For many of nature’s creatures, smell is closely tied to their ability to thrive. In fact, the most commonly used method of communication among animals is the invisible language of odors. Squirrels use their sense of smell to find their hidden cache of food, skunks use their smelly spray as a defense against predators, ants produce a scent trail from the food source to their nests, and many creatures use scent as a way to mark territory, or even to identify members of their family or colony groups. Try out some of these fun ways to help kids explore the scents of nature and focus on their amazing sense of smell!
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The Guide
Guess that smell.
Place a variety of ingredients with scents (i.e. citrus, herbs, spices) inside paper bags or opaque containers (i.e. yogurt or other recycled container) with a tissue secured on top so that the contents are hidden. Invite kids to smell each container and describe how the mystery ingredients smell. Offer descriptive words (i.e. sweet, spicy) to boost language skills. Which smells does your child like the most? The least? Do any of the smells remind your child of familiar foods, people, places or objects? Then, invite your child to guess the mystery scents before revealing what is inside.
Guess whose smell.
Every one us has our own unique scent and the smell of a loved one often triggers feelings of comfort and joy. Make a pile of clothing items from a few different family members. Kids can close their eyes or use a piece of cloth as a blindfold and try to identify which article of clothing belongs to each family member using only their sense of smell.
Scented art.
Activate the sense of smell during art-making by using ingredients with natural scents to make your own paint. Our favorite paint ingredients require no heating or heavy processing but still yield brilliant color and unleash amazing smells, like raspberries, blackberries, turmeric, cinnamon and paprika. Gather water, buckets or containers for mixing, brushes, and paper. As kids mash and mix their paint, invite them to describe the scents that they create. Read more about this activity here.
Scented sensory play.
Add sliced citrus and cucumber to a container of water to tantalize the olfactory sense during water play (kids will enjoy the chance to explore sink and float with these ingredients, too). Add spices, herbs, fragrant flowers and berries to your mud kitchen and see what kind of scented feast your child can whip up. Or, add lavender or other spices to forest putty (homemade play-dough).
Smell hide and seek.
Many animals, like squirrels and bears seek out their food using their sense of smell. Hide some cinnamon sticks or containers of spices around your outdoor space and invite kids to pretend to be a creature in search of food. Can they sniff out and find the hidden ingredients?
Smelling science.
To help kids learn how the senses work together, try out a sense of smell science experiment during meal time. Invite kids to take a bite of food first while looking at their meal and then try it again with eyes closed (isolating one sense often heightens the others). Are the flavors different or more intense with eyes closed or open? To test the connection between the senses of taste and smell (the olfactory bulb, the section of the brain that detects smell, enables us to interpret flavor), kids can take a bite of food while plugging their nose with their fingers. Does the food taste the same?
Slowing down and focusing on one sense in particular is a great way to help kids develop awareness of their senses and develop their ability to focus and stay present in the moment. Noticing the smells of the outdoors also helps kids to connect to nature and create joyful memories that they will be able to draw from into the future.
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We think of self control as a child’s ability to focus on something in such a way that maximizes learning. In order to do that, they first need to direct their attention and focus on a single thing. They also need to discern which information around them is most important and deserving of their attention. Thirdly, they need something called “inhibition.” Think of inhibition as the ability to control impulses, block out distractions and continue attending to the same thing. Focus, discerning and inhibition all require rather fancy brain work and are thought to be part of the “executive functions” or the set of cognitive processes involving the prefrontal cortex that help us manage ourselves and the environment to achieve a goal.
Why does it matter?
Our world is full of distractions, more today than ever. Kids who are in any learning situation need the ability to control their impulses, block out noise and attend to the person, objects, events, or discussions that are central to learning. As classroom teachers, we saw that kids who did this ruled the classroom. As outdoor educators and parents, we know the same holds true outside of school.
But don’t take our word for it; the research is impressive. It turns out that these executive function skills are closely tied to success in the classroom, higher level education and life beyond school. Experts like Adele Diamond of the University of British Columbia have shown that, “If you look at what predicts how well children will do later in school, more and more evidence is showing that executive functions—working memory and inhibition—actually predict success better than IQ tests.” Although these skills are difficult for young children and don’t crystallize until adulthood, the more kids practice them, the better at them kids become.
Sensory
Category:
Body Skills
What is Sensory Development?
Although some scientists classify as many as 20 senses, when childhood educators talk about "developing the senses," we typically mean developing the five standard senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. In addition to honing these senses, educators care about sensory integration, which is the ability to take in, sort out, process and make use of information gathered from the world around us via the senses.
Why does it matter?
The better kids are able to tune and integrate their senses, the more they can learn. First, if their senses are sharper, the information kids can gather should be of greater quantity and quality, making their understanding of the world more sophisticated. Further, until the lower levels of the brain can efficiently and accurately sort out information gathered through the senses, the higher levels cannot begin to develop thinking and organization skills kids need to succeed. Senses also have a powerful connection to memory. Children (and adults) often retain new learning when the senses are an active part of the learning.
So, if kids have more sensory experiences, they will learn more, retain better and be better able to think at a higher level. Makes the days they get all wet and dirty in the sandbox seem better, doesn't it?
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: 1 hour+
Materials: paper bags or opaque containers, variety of ingredients with scent (berries, herbs, spices, citrus)
