Discover Christmas Smells and Memories

What You Need:

• Christmas spices (cinnamon, sugar, cloves, cocoa, ginger, peppermint, etc.)
• Blindfold
• Pencil
• Paper

What You Do:

1. Blindfold your child and tell him he is going to have to use his sense of smell and taste in order to identify various Christmas smells.
2. Put each spice in front of him one at a time and have him touch it, smell it and taste it (if he wants). Make sure that if he chooses to taste it, he only puts a little on his tongue as some children find cocoa very bitter and ginger a bit harsh.
3. Record his final guesses before you take off the blindfold and reveal the mystery spices to him.
4. Discuss the strong ties of memory and scent with your child. Did these Christmas scents remind him of anything that he has experienced before?
5. If your child had trouble identifying many of the spices, blindfold him again after you have revealed them to him and encourage him to ace it the second time around!