Sniff and find your baby!

Batty about bats!

We have finished reading about bats in our Exploring Creation with Zoology 1:  Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day by Jeannie K. Fulbright.

We learnt some incredible facts about bats ~

• Bats have a muscle in their ears that closes when they emit their high pitch squeak for echolocation that prevents the bats becoming deaf from their own call.
• Bats hang upside down without the use of muscles.  Tendons are specially created to close and hold the weight of the bat without it becoming tired.
• A mother bat can find her baby pup among the millions of other baby bats by scent and sound.

And this last amazing fact brought us to this activity ~

A scent experiment!

I created 20 different scents on cotton wool pads.

Here’s what I used to create different scents:

• mouth wash
• make-up remover
• perfume
• deodorant spray
• essential oils – lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, rose, lemon grass
• lemon juice
• fruit juice
• apple cider vinegar
• baking essences – vanilla, caramel, strawberry, almond, peppermint
• laundry softener
• ammonia household cleaner
• furniture polish
• condiments & sauces
• spices – cinnamon, ginger, cloves

We sniffed each pad and the kids guessed what I had used.

Then I blindfolded each child, let them choose 1 pad and name the scent and place it back on the tray with all the other scent pads.

I used tongs (so the scent wouldn’t rub off on my fingers and confuse them) and placed the pad near their noses.

Sniff! Sniff! Think … remember … name it, try again …

And then they found their scent!

Each child showed a remarkable response to the scents when they found their “baby”.

Yes! This is mine!

It  is amazing to see how powerfully our emotions are connected to smells.   Our brains respond to scent and connect it to so many other memories. It is a powerful tool.

How often do we use all our senses to learn or remember or express ourselves?

The girls wrote narrations in their notebooking pages and minibooks.

Our notebooking pages are free from Jeannie Fulbright.

We downloaded our minibooks for our lapbook from CurrClick.com.

You can find more information on Science Notebooking at Jimmie’s Squidoo lens.