Five Senses Touch + Process Art • 3-5 years
Textured Bird Painting
Explore how foil, feathers, bottle caps, and sponges feel and the different painted marks they make.
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Five Senses: Smell + Art
What Do You Smell? Five Senses Art
This two-day five senses art activity began with one simple question: What do you smell with your nose? Children painted nose shapes while sharing their answers. The next day, they colored pictures inspired by those answers and paired each picture with a nose. They also painted flowers with scented cinnamon, vanilla, and cocoa paint before bringing all the pieces together in a playful classroom display.
Best for: Five senses themes, smell vocabulary, classroom conversations, child-led art, scented painting, creative expression, and multi-day projects.
More details coming soon: This classroom idea is now available as a first look. More photos, preparation details, scented-paint measurements, and printable templates will be added soon.
Learning Goals
- Smell vocabulary
- Speaking and listening
- Making personal connections
- Creative expression
- Fine motor skills
- Memory and recall
- Collaborative display planning
Materials
- Printed or drawn nose shapes
- Pictures inspired by the children's answers
- Flower outlines
- Washable paint, crayons, or markers
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla
- Cocoa powder
- Small paint cups
- Paintbrushes
- Colored construction paper
- Glue
- Scissors for adult use or supervised child cutting
How to Do the Activity
- Invite children to paint or color a nose shape.
- While they work, ask: What do you smell with your nose? Listen to each answer and write down the children's ideas.
- For the next day, prepare simple pictures that represent their answers, such as flowers, fruit, or favorite foods.
- Invite children to color or paint the pictures connected to their ideas.
- Prepare separate scented paints with cinnamon, vanilla, and cocoa, then let children explore the scents as they paint flower shapes.
- Cut out the finished pieces when dry, with adult support as needed.
- Pair each nose with a child's chosen picture on colored paper, then arrange the scented flowers and completed pairs together as a classroom display.
Questions to Ask Children
- What do you smell with your nose?
- Which smells do you like?
- What does the cinnamon, vanilla, or cocoa smell remind you of?
- Can you match your nose with the picture you chose?
- How are these scents the same or different?
Teacher Tip: Record children's exact answers during the first-day conversation so the second-day pictures feel personal and meaningful. Check allergies and sensitivities before using scented ingredients, keep powders away from children's faces, and offer unscented paint as an alternative.
