Activity #1: Smell-and-Seek

Our noses can detect all sorts of smells. Some common scents (smells) are fruity, floral, minty, woody (like cut grass), chemical (like bleach), pungent (like onion and garlic) and, well – yucky smells, too. These words all describe what we smell. This week we have been talking a lot about sweet-smelling flowers, good-smelling herbs and kitchen smells that may make us hungry.

Now it’s your turn to test your sense of smell.

For this activity you will need a sock – a CLEAN sock, unless you like a “footsy” smell! - or a clean piece of cloth. You will also need some perfume, a dryer sheet or a piece of fruit. You will need a partner or several other people to play with.

Choose one person to put a scent onto the sock or cloth. This can be done by spraying a LITTLE BIT of perfume on it, rubbing it on a dryer sheet or an orange, or any other way you can come up with to make the sock or cloth take on a noticeable scent.

Have one person in the group hide the sock or cloth somewhere in the house. The other players need to “smell” or sniff for the location of the hidden sock or cloth. Let your noses lead the way!

The first person to find the hidden sock or cloth gets to hide it next. At some point during the game you may need to re-apply the scent to make it stronger, or you can find a new cloth and create a new scent.

For another challenge, hide the cloth outside and try to find it with your nose. Is it harder to find it by smell outside or inside? Record your experiences in your field notebook. Record any other smells that you found. Were they stronger than or weaker than the smell of the object you were looking for?