DIY Montessori Inspired Scent Jars
This was a delightful activity I put together for Little Bee which was inspired by the famous Montessori smelling jars/bottles. It's important to help your child develop all of their five senses of taste, sight, touch, hearing, and smell. The scent jars help to develop the sense of smell, which facilitates memory learning. It's a scientific fact that the brain connects smells to memories! So enjoy making several scent jars with your little one and blossom fun memories that will last a lifetime. 🙂
I found three glass jars at World Market for 99 cents each and filled them with three very distinct smells - lemon, basil, and lavender. As I was making these scent jars, Little Bee was literally begging to hold them and start sniffing! He was very VERY eager!
I had dried lavender leftover from my wedding that I placed in one glass jar.
I picked several leaves of fresh basil from my garden for the basil sniffing jar.
I chopped up several pieces of lemon for the last sniffing jar. Smell is associated with taste and Little Bee loves to nibble on lemons, that is why he is licking this jar! LOL!
This sniffing activity was a HUGE success with Little Bee and he enjoyed it until one glass jar broke. I recommend playing with this activity over a soft surface like grass or carpet. (Or use plastic bottles). This activity should always be monitored by an adult and appropriate caution taken. Even though, one jar broke, I will do this activity again because we had a blast!
When Little Bee is 3 years old, I plan to make him an entire set of 4 matching pairs of smelling bottles to enjoy. For now, I will keep it simple with only three at a time. Have you made your very own set of sniffing jars?
Please also visit, Montessori Inspired Five Senses Activities for more DIY Montessori materials and ideas! (In this post you will find more DIY scent jars.)
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Scent jars! Great idea. I keep forgetting to include smell in the sensory activities.
This is such a great idea!
What a great idea! I love that he licked the jar! That is so how my kids work…
I need to refresh mine! Thanks for the reminder 😉
Neat – I bet my little guy would love this.
Love this idea – thanks for sharing:) Adding it to my activity idea to-do list:)