• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

  • HOME
  • About
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • PR/Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Montessori
    • About Montessori
    • Resources
    • ABCs of Montessori
    • Overview
    • Principles
    • Free Printables
    • Materials
    • Homeschool Classroom and Materials
      • Circle Time Activities
    • Techniques
    • Training
      • Free Montessori Video Lessons
    • Inspiration
  • Activities
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Art
    • Cultural
    • Language
    • Math
    • Practical Life
    • Practical Life – Grace and Courtesy
    • Sensorial
    • Unit Studies
    • PreK + K Sharing
    • Monthly Themed Activities
    • Holidays and Celebrations
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool High School
    • Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials
    • Unit Studies
    • PreK + K Sharing
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Monthly Themed Activities
    • Holidays and Celebrations
    • Free Montessori Video Lessons
  • Free Printables
    • Free Printables
    • Sign up for the Living Montessori Now Newsletter & Get Monthly Subscriber Freebies!
    • More Than 13 Years’ Worth of Free Printables and Montessori-Inspired Activities
    • Free Montessori Geography Album
  • Holidays
    • Resources for Upcoming Holidays
    • Holidays and Celebrations
  • Subscribe
    • Sign up for the Living Montessori Now Newsletter & Get Monthly Subscriber Freebies!
  • Shop
    • Shop
    • Products
    • My Products

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles

July 18, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 22 Comments

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles

If you have a Montessori homeschool classroom or are planning to start one in the fall, you’ve probably been focusing on finding and/or making Montessori materials. A Montessori sensorial material you can make easily and inexpensively for preschoolers at home (or school if you’re a preschool teacher) is a set of smelling bottles.

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles (Photo from Counting Coconuts)

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles (Photo from Counting Coconuts)

Counting Coconuts made an attractive set of smelling bottles using a spice bottles.

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles (Photo from To the Lesson!)

DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles (Photo from To the Lesson!)

To the Lesson! has directions for making an attractive set from another type of spice bottles.

Homeschool Mo also used glass bottles and extracts. She tells about her experiences with them as well.

Carrots are Orange used glass bottles and extracts. She adds ideas for presentation.

Because some of the extracts used for the scents can be identified by sight, you will need a blindfold for the activity or could hide the cotton balls in muslin tea bags found in natural food stores (a suggestion in one of the comments at To the Lesson!).

September had easy-to-prepare DIY smelling bottles using baby food jars, colored construction paper to hide the jar contents, cotton flour sack cloth, and herbs. (The blog is no longer available.)

Montessori Primary Guide  and Montessori World have directions you can use to present the smelling bottles.

Smelling Bottle Extension (Photo from Leptir)

Smelling Bottle Extension (Photo from Leptir)

Leptir has a wonderful extension of the smelling bottles by matching the bottles with pictures of the fruits and plants that are the source of the extracts/essential oils.

Mama’s Happy Hive has Montessori-inspired scent bottles for babies and toddlers.

I have a post on “How to Make Your Own Montessori Materials” with resources for making lots of other Montessori materials.

Have fun – and let me know about your DIY Montessori projects! 🙂

Linked with Mommy Club Resources and Solutions and Every Day Sensory Play, Discover and Explore: Five Senses.

 

Filed Under: Activities - Sensorial, Activity of the Week, Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials, Montessori Monday Tagged With: DIY Montessori materials, DIY Montessori smelling bottles, homeschool, Montessori Monday, preschoolers, smelling bottles

Previous Post: « Montessori-Inspired Pond Unit
Next Post: Spread Montessori Madness! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sasha says

    July 18, 2011 at 5:36 am

    Hello Deb! Thanks so much for featuring my Smelling Bottles (and my blog). I always enjoy your posts and appreciate your ideas! Hope you are enjoying your summer…. Take care, Sasha

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 18, 2011 at 4:41 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind words, Sasha – and for the wonderful ideas you share through your blog! I’m having a fabulous summer and I hope you are, too. Congratulations on passing your Oral Exams … I’m sure that makes your summer all the better! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Leptir says

    July 18, 2011 at 8:35 am

    I have Smelling bottles from Nienhuis, but I made extension: matching bottles with photos (end of the post: http://leptir-mojpribor.blogspot.com/2009/10/bocice-za-percepciju-mirisa.html )

    Nataša

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 18, 2011 at 4:43 pm

      Thanks, Natasa! I really appreciate you sharing your link – I love that extension! I added your post link and photo to the post above! 🙂

      Reply
      • Leptir says

        July 20, 2011 at 12:56 pm

        Thanks Deb 🙂

        Reply
  3. Lori says

    July 18, 2011 at 11:18 am

    I definitely need to make time to make smelling bottles (among everything else I have to plan) for our next school year. Busy time of year! 🙂 Thanks for the idea.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 18, 2011 at 4:47 pm

      Thanks for your comment, Lori! I can imagine you must be very busy! I always found this time of year busy with preparations when I was a Montessori teacher – even when I didn’t have kids yet. Good luck with your planning and projects! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Ameera says

    July 18, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    Ok so I’m heading to the store now LOL. I love ideas that are quick, simple and educational. My children will love this and I will be sure to blog about our experience and link it back to here! Thanks for the awesome idea

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 18, 2011 at 4:49 pm

      Thanks, Ameera! I’ll love to hear about your experiences with smelling bottles! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Heidi says

    July 19, 2011 at 10:33 am

    My boys LOVE smelling bottles! We made our own set from glass salt shakers we picked up at the dollar store. To keep the scent in, we just put a cicle label on top that they peeled back when they wanted to do the job. For color coding we added star stickers to the bottom of our shakers. I wish I had a picture to share with you – just another idea for those who might not have an excess of spice jars around! 🙂

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 24, 2011 at 6:18 pm

      Thanks so much for sharing your idea, Heidi! It’s great to have other options! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Ann says

    July 21, 2011 at 7:24 am

    Hi Deb,

    I added this link to the bottom of my recent post about Sensorial. Thanks so much!

    Ann

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 24, 2011 at 6:21 pm

      Thanks so much for linking to my post, Ann! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Joanna says

    July 24, 2011 at 7:21 am

    I loved seeing this in the email! Great ideas and love the tutorials.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 24, 2011 at 6:35 pm

      Thanks so much, Joanna! And I appreciate your being on my mailing list! 🙂

      Reply
  8. Nicole says

    July 24, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    What great ideas and a good reminder that I need to do that lesson with the boys soon. Thanks for linking up to Montessori Monday!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 24, 2011 at 6:36 pm

      Thanks, Nicole! I always found that smelling bottles were a popular activity. I think a blindfold always added fun to the activity, too. Thanks for hosting Montessori Monday! 🙂

      Reply
  9. Aimee says

    July 27, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    What a fantastic way to get the senses going. What a great round-up of ideas! Thank you for linking up with us on The Sunday Showcase

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 3, 2011 at 5:20 pm

      Thanks Aimee! And thanks for hosting the Sunday Showcase! 🙂

      Reply
  10. Maureen Sklaroff says

    January 20, 2012 at 11:59 am

    Thanks for the wonderful post and the link-up!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      January 22, 2012 at 9:08 pm

      Thanks for your kind comment, Maureen! It was my pleasure to add your post! 🙂

      Reply
  11. Archie says

    June 28, 2015 at 3:45 am

    Dear Deb, I am always looking forward to your posts. You are such an inspiration for me to give my kids in the kindergarten the best of experiences.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Primary Sidebar

What Are You Looking For?

Montessori Mega Bundle at 95% Off (Only $25) + Freebies Through May 12!!!

Montessori Mega Bundle 95% Off (Only $25) Through May 12!!!

...and get free geography album, monthly subscriber freebie, and access to the Living Montessori Now Resource Library! 

 I respect your privacy

Categories

Shop Living Montessori Now!

Living Montessori Now Sponsors

Montessori Print Shop

Alison's Montessori
Montessori for the Earth

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives

I Recommend (My Affiliates)

Montessori by Mom

Shop Montessori Services
Shop For Small Hands

How to Get Kids to Listen without Nagging, Reminding, or Yelling



Shop KiwiCo

Shop Little Passports for Award-Winning Adventure

Printed Alphabet Wood Tracing Board

Little Passports

Footer

Connect with LMN



Supervision

The activities shared on this blog require adult supervision at all times. You know which activities are appropriate for your children and/or the children under your care and are responsible for those children's safety.

You Can Also Find Me

Bits of Positivity PreK + K Sharing Spring Snow Publications

Subscribe by Email


Copyright © 2025 Deb Chitwood