N is for Nose

We had a great time today at preschool learning about how our noses are good for smelling things and breathing.

I put 7 different Mr. Potato Head noses in the counting box and we talked about how noses come in all shapes and sizes.

We then got to use our noses while we mixed up Peppermint Play Dough. The kids had a great time mixing in the green color. (As a side note to all of you parents who let your kids play with play dough on the couch or on your shag carpets, just be careful to only let them play with it on the table because it does have highly staining green food coloring in it.)

The kids had several different methods of mixing their dough:

The Squisher

The Roller

The Mountain Maker

The Sculpter

The Plopper

The Smasher

Then we went on to a game called "Guess the Smells."

I have to admit that Ellie has a seriously good sniffer. She was able to pick out the majority of the mystery scents. Gavin was always the first to second Ellie's correct guesses. Maylie decided she was done with sniffing after a few rounds. And Daniel's response to every smell was, "Smells yummy!"

There were some good smells (like cinnamon, vanilla, perfume, and peanut butter):

(This was peppermint extract - a good smell. Check out the master sniffer at work!)

And some not so good smells, like rubbing alcohol.

It was funny to hear the kids describe vinegar as "It smells like easter eggs!"

I searched high and low for some scratch 'n sniff stickers but couldn't find any, so I got some scented markers and we colored our own pages of smelly items. However, I think our sniffers were a bit overloaded by the time we broke out the markers, so don't worry if your child comes home with a picture of a green apple that smells like a pine tree and vice versa!

And finally we ended off the day with an online reading of the Story of Ferdinand which is about a flower-sniffing peace-loving bull in Spain.