Montessori Smelling Bottles
The Montessori Smelling Bottles are a key component of the Montessori Sensorial Curriculum, designed to refine the olfactory sense.
- 📏 Range Age: 3.5 - 5 years (activity should be adjusted based on the child's age and skill level).
- 🧠 Prerequisites: Sensorial Activities (Tactile Boards, Tactile Tablets), Language Activities (vocabulary building activities for scents and olfactory sensations), Cognitive Activities (sorting and classifying by scent, understanding of different smells)
- 🛠️ Enhancement Skills: Olfactory Skills (discrimination of different scents), Cognitive Development (memory, attention to detail, comparison and contrast of scents), Fine Motor Skills (manipulating the bottles).
This article explores the significance of the smelling bottles in the Montessori method, their role in developing the sense of smell, and practical ways to incorporate them into your child's learning at home.
Content
What are the Montessori Smelling Bottles?
The Montessori Smelling Bottles are a set of paired bottles containing different scents. The child's task is to smell each bottle and match the pairs based on the scents they detect.
This activity helps children develop their olfactory discrimination, enabling them to recognize and differentiate various smells.
Benefits of the Montessori Smelling Bottles
Integrating the Smelling Bottles into your child's learning offers several benefits:
- 👃 Enhances Olfactory Discrimination: Children learn to distinguish between different scents, refining their sense of smell.
- 🧠 Develops Cognitive Skills: Matching scents challenges the child's memory and concentration.
- 🌿 Introduces Nature: Using natural scents like flowers or herbs helps children connect with the natural world.
- 🔍 Encourages Exploration: The activity sparks curiosity about different sources of scents and their characteristics.
- 🤲 Fosters Independence: Children can independently engage with the activity, making their own discoveries and self-correcting.
Purpose of the Montessori Smelling Bottles
The purpose of the Montessori Smelling Bottles is to develop the child's olfactory sense, enabling them to recognize and appreciate a variety of scents, and to lay the foundation for further sensory exploration and learning.
How to Present the Montessori Smelling Bottles?
Materials
- Two sets of opaque jars, each holding a cotton ball infused with distinct scents, arranged into four matching pairs. These jars engage the child's sense of smell in a matching exercise.
- The lids of each set should be color-coded to aid in organizing and differentiating between the sets.
- The lids should be designed for easy opening and closing, allowing the child to independently access and explore the scents.
The following instructions are the basic presentation of Montessori Smelling Bottles:
Presentation
- Begin by taking out one set of smelling bottles and arrange them in parallel lines, ensuring there is ample space between the two lines.
- Move the tray to the side to clear the workspace.
- Mix up one of the lines of bottles, keeping them in a straight line.
- Isolate the first jar from the left row, bringing it closer to you for individual attention.
- Demonstrate the proper way to smell the contents by placing the jar slightly under your nose and moving it side to side while inhaling.
- Invite the child to smell the jar following the demonstrated technique.
- Place the jar to the left of the other jars, separating it from the group.
- Isolate the next jar from the left line for exploration.
- Allow the child to open the jar and take in the scent, following the same method as before.
- Continue this process, smelling each jar from the set and then placing them back in line.
- Isolate the first jar from the left line again and announce that you will find its matching scent.
- Isolate the first jar from the mixed line and place it next to the isolated jar from the left line.
- Open and smell each jar, one at a time, to compare their scents.
- If the jars have different scents, indicate this with a shake of your head and verbally confirm to the child that they do not smell the same.
- Place the non-matching jar to the right of the right line and bring down the next jar from the right line for comparison.
- If the jars have the same scent, affirm the match, invite the child to verify the scent, and then close their lids.
- Place the matching jars side by side between the two lines of jars.
- Repeat the matching process until all jars have been paired.
- Once all matches are found, arrange the jars back into their lines, mix one line, and invite the child to match the jars based on their scents.
- After the child completes the activity, guide them to arrange the jars in two rows based on their colors on the tray and return the tray to the shelf.
Language: The names of the substances.
Variations & Extentions
Variations
- Introduce bottles with a wider range of scents, including floral, fruity, or herbal aromas, to challenge the child's olfactory discrimination.
- Use the smelling bottles in a game format, where the child identifies the scent without visual cues.
- Incorporate smelling bottles with varying intensities of the same scent to explore the concept of concentration.
Extension
- Once the child is comfortable with matching scents, introduce the concept of categorizing scents into groups, such as sweet, spicy, or fresh.
- Combine the smelling bottles with other sensorial materials, like the tasting bottles, to explore the relationship between taste and smell.
- Encourage the child to create their own scents using natural materials, such as herbs or spices, to fill empty bottles.
Recommendations
- Ensure that the bottles are well-sealed to maintain the integrity of the scents.
- Observe the child's technique and offer guidance to improve their smelling process and scent discrimination.
- Encourage the child to work at their own pace, allowing them to fully engage with the activity and develop a keen sense of smell.
References
- Montessori Blog - The Center for Guided Montessori Studies - The Center for Guided Montessori Studies
- Education Blog - Rasmussen College - Rasmussen College
- Montessori, M. (1972). The Secret of Childhood. New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 105-120.
- Montessori, M. (1967). The Absorbent Mind. New York: Dell Publishing. pp. 130-145.
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