Holiday Potions

We had a blast making holiday potions yesterday in MAKEart for preschoolers. We kicked off by reading the book, The Sweet Smell of Christmas and talked about the anticipation we all felt for the upcoming holiday. Preschoolers knew that Christmas was coming by the sights, sounds, and smells that had changed in the last week. They noticed that their families, friends, and neighbors had started to listening to Christmas music almost non-stop. That all of the sudden people had put twinkle lights on the outside of their houses and trees on the inside. Children described scented candles and oils filling their homes, smells of baking and hot chocolate.

To make their own good smell concoctions children choose from a variety of items:orange sliceslemon slicescranberriescinnamon sticksrosemary sprigswhole clovessmall evergreen branchesdried applesThese dried and fresh fruits and spices were all available and kids scooped and placed in a simple glassine bag and topped them off with a simple tag of directions.

You can access the tag we used here, if you would like to make some yourself with your family. They make delightful gifts, though if you're not planning on using or gifting right away I would suggest drying all the fruit in a food dehydrator. Or alternatively you could bottle them in a glass jar, which I think would look spectacular!