Ten Scents of Christmas Sensory Cards

This activity uses different scents associated with Christmas to create matching and sorting games. The room smells warm and festive with all of these special smells in the air!

There are 10 cards, each of which has a different scent:

Cinnamon – ground spice
Pine Tree – cut needles from a pine tree in our park
Cranberry – crushed dried cranberries
Clove – whole dried cloves
Peppermint – essence on cotton pad
Almond – essence on cotton pad
Vanilla – essence on cotton pad
Spice – ground allspice
Chocolate – sweetened cocoa powder
Ginger – ground

Each card has the name of the scent written out in print and braille can easily be added. Pairs of cards can be made for a matching game or, for children who are able to read the words, the words can be matched to the bags of the different scents.

There is a follow-up blog post on Matching Cards, which can be adapted for children who are not able to see or recognize the photos.

Materials

cardboard strips (cut from a cardboard box)
small plastic snap lock bags (available at craft and dollar stores)
marker/texta
sticky tape
items to fill the bags (see list above of what we used)
needle

Procedure

Create two sets of cards in print and braille. Cut strips from a box write the names of the “scents” on each one. Each scented item can then be added to a bag and taped to the corresponding card.
Have students match the cards.
Add the essences to a cotton pad cut to fit inside the bags.
Use a needle to create tiny holes in the pine needle and cloves bags. All of the other scents easily permeated their bags and need no piercing.

Variations

If students are able to read, the print/braille cards can be separated from the scents themselves and children can match the words to the scents.
Children who are able to see pictures can match photos of the items to the cards.