Smelling and Matching
Two rows of small jars, and a sense we almost never train: smell.
Smelling and Matching is a Montessori activity for a child aged 3 to 4 years. Area: Sensorial. Time: 10-15 min.
What the activity builds
Isolate the sense of smell, the most neglected sense, and match two identical scents. We don't ask your child to name them: we ask them to recognize, which is far more refined. With eyes closed, they discover differences they never noticed before.
The materials
- Six small identical opaque jars, with a pierced lid or a piece of stretched fabric
- Three strong scents, each in two jars: coffee, vanilla, and lavender, for example
- A matching sticker of the same color on the bottom of each pair
How to do it, step by step
- Line up three jars in front of you and three in front of your child.
- Pick up one jar, hold it under your nose, breathe in once, and set it back down.
- Pick one from their row, smell it, and set the two jars side by side.
- They continue on their own: smelling, searching, bringing together the jars that match.
- They turn the jars over: two matching stickers confirm the pair.
The parent's role
Breathe in only once per jar: the nose saturates quickly and stops telling scents apart after three or four sniffs. Don't name the scents during the matching, that would turn nose work into a memory exercise. The names come later, in a three-period lesson, once the pairs are found. Show once, then step back.
Safety
Never pure essential oil on the skin or in an open jar, never a household product or an irritating substance. Use food scents, in small amounts, in jars that don't open on their own. If your child has a known allergy, skip that scent.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: two pairs only, with very different scents.
- Harder: four pairs, with two close scents like orange and lemon.
- Next step: smelling the spices in the kitchen, eyes closed, and guessing the dish.
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