Scent Pots

This is an activity that is part of a unit on Our Five Senses. To set up the activity gather together up to 17 small film canisters or similar small jars. Place a cotton ball in each container. Use an eye dropper to add a few drops of the following food essences or aromatherapy oils to the containers - peppermint, lemon, orange, vanilla and rose. Mix up a small amount of coffee and pour a ew drops into one of the containers and to the final container add a few drops of vinegar. Place an adhesive dot on each container and then number them. Make a list of the scents and their matching number. This comes in handy for remembering what each scent is. Conduct a discussion with the students about our sense of smell. Invite them to the table that you have set up with the Scent Pots. The students use the worksheet to identify the smells that they recognise and place the correct number next to the scent. Place a cross through any scents that they did not identify.