• SHOP PRODUCTS
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Laughing Kids Learn

Where learning is made fun

  • Disclosure and Privacy Policy

Strong smelling playdough

July 13, 2015 by Kate 13 Comments

The world is full of many different smells; some weird, wonderful and breathtakingly bad. In this post I use basic playdough and a mixture of strong smelling powders to create a wonderful sensory experience for kids.

Strong smelling playdough

This is a sponsored post by Lonely Planet Kids

I’m sure like most parents, I want to bring up my children to appreciate the world around them and see how diverse and magnificent it can be. Sometimes that can be hard to do because travel can be so expensive.

Loney Planet Kids collageAllow me to introduce you to a fabulous new range of books by Lonely Planet Kids. These books are all designed to excite and inspire children to learn about the world they live in right in their own home. They are written in such a way that they are super child-friendly and full of cool and quirky facts. 

Play Dough recipes and simple play ideas for kids to learn and play

Possum (aged 3 years) was drawn to one particular book in the range called, ‘Adventures of Smelly Places’. The name, as it suggests, shares factual and fun information about the various smells from around the world, some nice and some not so nice. She was so engrossed in this book I knew I wanted to take her interest further.

Fresh no cook playdough

After spending a long time looking at the brightly coloured pages, learning about interesting facts and playing with the reusable stickers I whipped up a batch of my basic no cook playdough. We talked about smells that were familiar to us and discussed the ones we like and dislike.
Mixing fresh playdough and using spices and seeds in playdough
Super Smelling Play Dough

I divided the dough into three and with great care I began mixing curry powder into one, paprika into another and cocoa powder into the last lump of dough. The smell was so strong and interesting.

Possum’s face lit up in excitement because she could see how the play dough had changed colour and it smelt different too.
Playing with playdough with different spices and smells. Wonderfully scented
I knew that this would be a fabulous sensory experience for Possum while she played with the super smelly playdough. With her sense of smell I wanted her to be taken on a journey to exciting countries that are known for the smells in the playdough and described in the Lonely Planet Kids book, ‘Adventures of Smelly Places’.

playing a smelling and guessing game
mixing powder into playdough . great sensory experience for children. Can they guess the scent?

We enjoyed playing a game with the scented playdough. Using only her sense of smell, Possum had to guess which ball of playdough had what spice. It was lots of fun.

children learning about different countries using lonely planet atlasWe also loved using the Lonely Planet Kids atlas because it has such great maps and pictures that allowed us to make a great connection to the places that the smells from the playdough had originated from. 

Parenting reading together with child

She couldn’t wait to share her new Lonely Planet Kids books with her daddy. It melted my heart to hear her retelling lots of what she learnt and with such excitement and enthusiasm. I’m thrilled we have these Lonely Planet Kids books because they are so fun and will grow with Possum’s interest in the world we live.

What places do you think your child would be interested to know more about?     

Simple play dough ebook with recipes and play dough activities for kids.

Filed Under: 3 - 5 years, 5 - 10 years, Sponsored Post, Uncategorized Tagged With: investigation, learning, playdough, sensory, smell, sponsored post

Comments

  1. Debs says

    July 14, 2015 at 9:14 am

    Those books look great! Definitely going to have to look them up for my little adventurers!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 15, 2015 at 11:07 pm

      I was getting so inspired to learn more myself. Possum and I continually came up with more things we didn’t know! So great Debs.

      Reply
  2. katepickle says

    July 14, 2015 at 9:33 am

    What a great way to share some interesting ideas from other places!
    My smallest is very keen on maps at the moment so I’m going to see if we can find a copy of the Atlas!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 15, 2015 at 11:06 pm

      He will love these Kate. My Possum spent so long looking at all the maps and learning from the bits of information on them. Highly recommend.

      Reply
  3. Chelsea says

    July 14, 2015 at 11:21 am

    What a fun activity!!! I’ve always loved Lonely Planet so I’m excited to see this new range!!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 15, 2015 at 11:05 pm

      I’m really excited about it too Chelsea. These are such great books.

      Reply
  4. Rachel says

    July 14, 2015 at 11:46 am

    How awesome! We love Lonely Planet Kids too!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 15, 2015 at 11:04 pm

      Thanks Rachel. They are such fabulous books. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Kelly B says

    July 14, 2015 at 4:14 pm

    Love, love, love this. I met a scent/perfume specialist one time in Thailand, and he told me about how powerful smell is and how it’s linked so tightly with our memories.

    Reply
    • Kate says

      July 15, 2015 at 11:04 pm

      Thanks Kelly. I have to agree. Sometimes I feel I can be taken back to a time or place just by certain smells. So interesting.

      I appreciate your comment.

      Reply
  6. Anna @Kids Play Space says

    May 23, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    I love the focus on smell! And what a vehicle for all sorts of learning!!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      May 23, 2016 at 5:35 pm

      Completely agree Anna. Children are so often exposed to sweet fruity smells (soaps, toys etc) so it’s great to expand on that I think. Thanks for your comment. 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 22 Fun indoor activities for kids in home isolation - Laughing Kids Learn says:
    March 23, 2020 at 7:26 am

    […] Strong Smelling Play Dough – Laughing Kids […]

    Reply

Please Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome
Hello and welcome!
My name is Kate and I am a mum to two little girls, Possum and Boo. We have lots of fun together learning with play at home and are pleased to share some of what we do with you.
Read my about page to find out more.

facebookpinteresttwitterinstagramgoogle plusyoutube

Search

Find More Great Ideas Here:

sesnory play
art and craft
nummeracy
literacy
Science
recipes
videos

Join the Tribe!

Subscribe



Find Activities by Age

  • 0 – 12 months
  • 1 – 3 years
  • 3 – 5 years
  • 5 – 10 years

Find Activities by Celebration

  • Christmas
  • SHOP PRODUCTS

Privacy Policy

  • Disclosure and Privacy Policy

Find posts by month

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in