Put out 6–10 jars from the spice rack or fridge. Child closes eyes. Parent holds each open jar under their nose without touching. Child names or describes what they smell. Reveals how rich the sense of smell is compared to how little we normally use it.

What you need

spice jars
condiments
citrus or fresh herbs

How to do it

1Say: "Eyes closed, nose only. Can you name what's in each jar before I tell you?"
2Child closes their eyes. Hold each item under their nose for 3 seconds without touching.
3Child names it or describes it. Spicy, smells like biscuits, something hot — all count.
4Reveal after each one. Then rank them all: favourite to least favourite.

Variations

Korb-Tür: If they keep eyes open: replay. Close your own eyes first. "Your turn." Modeling works better than instruction.
Ausstieg: Rank them together. Favourite to least favourite. The ranking is the closure.

💡 Parent tip

Ask: 'What does it remind you of? Where did you smell that before?' Smell is connected to memory in a way other senses aren't. This produces surprising conversations.

What your child develops

Olfactory vocabulary — finding words for smells is linguistically complex and rarely practised
Sensory discrimination — noticing subtle differences between similar smells
Memory — smell is the sense most tightly linked to memory

Safety notes

Keep strong spices (chilli, pepper) away from the eyes.

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