The Children’s Museum
300 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210-1034
www.BostonKids.org
The Children’s Museum had an great turn out for Sense of Smell Day. With approximately 1,300 visitors, both children and adults alike enjoyed a wonderful day at the museum.
 Smell Matching: According to museum staff “Smell Matching was the most popular activity.” To demonstrate scent memory, visitors were asked to match scent canisters to their matching image. The smells ranged from soap to tuna fish and sparked many interesting conversations about favorite smells.
 Smelly Paint
Guests created paintings with paints scented with oils (melon, baby powder, lavender etc.) They were encouraged to use the paint based on the way each one smelled. The results were beautiful, creative and fragrant paintings.
 Clean me up, Snotty
Visitors created artificial “snot” from corn syrup, gelatin and crumbled cookies acting as dirt particles. They learned how mucous keeps your body safe from dirt and germs as well as what mucous is really made of.
Other activities included:
"What Does Boston Smell Like": While visitors discussed scent memories of Boston they were asked to take a tour of the smells of their hometown. The smells of Boston ranged from the lilacs at the Arboretum to the Necco candy factory.
Police Dogs: The Massachusetts Canine Response team unit came their dogs to demonstrate how the dogs are able to sniff out missing people with their highly trained sense of smell.
Storytelling: Staff members read What’s that Awful Smell by Heather Tekavec to an audience of young visitors
How Come Everything Tastes Funny When I Have a Cold: The connection between taste and smell was explored as guests were challenged to identify different flavored jellybeans with their eyes shut and noses held.
The Nose Knows: Spoiled milk and fresh milk were compared first using vision and second using smell. This demonstrated how important your nose is for protecting against foul food.
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