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osmoz KIDS is a fragrant new section of our site that’s both educational and fun. It will allow you to initiate your children, nephews or nieces, cousins or friends’ children into the delightfully surprising world of scents. Each issue will present a different theme, with smells to discover in a playful, simple and safe way that can keep your little rascals busy on a rainy day…
 

I can make my home smell nice!

 
Today, we’re going to learn how easy it is to make your first home fragrances… they’re like perfume to make your home smell good.
I can make a pomander
A pomander is an orange that has cloves stuck all into it. With the knife, score the orange peel from top to bottom: be careful, score means to cut lightly, without going all the way through the peel to the fruit. Then stick cloves in all over the orange, they should almost be touching each other. The last step is to tie a ribbon around the orange. That way, you can hang your pomander onto a door handle or elsewhere. It will make your house smell lovely.
 
I can make potpourri
Potpourri is a funny word. It’s pronounced “poe-pury” and in French it means “rotten pots”! But really it’s a pretty mix of things that make a room smell nice. To make a potpourri, you can mix spices and dried flowers or leaves of different shapes and colors and put them in a pretty bowl, dish or jar.
To make a spicy potpourri: Mix powdered cinnamon and ginger, whole nutmegs, star anise, cinnamon sticks and stalks of dried lemongrass. And put the mix in a pretty bowl, dish or jar (but leave the jar open so you can smell your potpourri!)
To make a sparkling citrus potpourri: Put strips or chunks of dried orange, grapefruit, mandarin orange, lemon, and/or lime peel in your container (bowl, dish, jar, etc.) You can also add herbs (store-bought or from the garden) like bay leaves, mint or rosemary.

I can make scented bath salts
Fill the jar half way with the salt. Then pour two teaspoons of rosewater or orange-blossom water. Stir well with a spoon to mix it together, then fill the rest of the jar with salt and mix some more. When you’re done, let the mixture dry by leaving the jar open for an hour or two, then close it tight. How do you use it? Just pour a few spoonfuls of your scented salt into the bathwater for a bath that smells great!
   

 

 

For this workshop, you need:
- for the pomander: an orange, some cloves, a kitchen knife and a piece of cloth ribbon
- for the potpourri: a glass or ceramic bowl or container, some spices (powdered cinnamon or ginger, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon sticks and dried lemongrass stalks, etc.), citrus peels (orange, lemon, grapefruit, mandarin orange, lemon or lime peel cut into strips or chunks and then dried, plus herbs (rosemary, mint, bay leaf, etc.)
- for the scented bath salts: a clean, dry jar with a screw top, fine salt, rosewater or orange-blossom water (available in large supermarkets’ baking section)

Age range > 8