So for this activity I had cut out leaf shapes from cardboard and had the kid trace them on orange paper. I had then selected six different spices from our pantry and we made a glue, food coloring, spice mixture with them. He smelled all of the spices before hand and we talked about which ones he liked and which ones he did not like. The spices I chose were cinnamon, cumin, basil, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and nutmeg. We also mixed food coloring in to make some fall colors. He then painted over the leafs he had traces and added veins to. He paused a lot to smell the spices as he was painting with them which I had hoped he would do. As the painting went on he began mixing the spices together and making new smells which I had expected and was glad that he did.
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| Mixing up the spices and glue with chopsticks |
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| Drawing the veins on the leaves outline |
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| Smelling the scents making sure he picks the right one! |
In the end he was so happy painting and smelling that he wanted to make his own picture of a smelly monster. He started saying he was going to make his own tree with leaves but then after painting the branches he realized they looked more like scary arms and decided to create his monster. PERFECT timing for Halloween. A very fun activity!
