Our Senses in Nature-Smell
Can you smell that? A common question we may ask while we are exploring the outdoors with our children. Walking fields or forests, mountains or creeks the amount of smells is endless. When we take our time to breath deeply, meditate on the smells and truly work to identify them, we are becoming a part of the whole experience the outdoors brings to our little ones and adults alike. The slower the pace on our nature walks, the more we can take in and allow for children’s natural curiosity to be feed.
Smell: the odor of the damp earth as you walk through the woods and around the water source.
Breathe in deep the smell of the trees around you, pine, oak, maple, dogwood, cherry, all so different.
Walking into or by the water, can you uncover the different smells coming from within?
After a rainfall is a wondrous time to take a nature walk and breathe in deep the smells of the earth, damp tree trunks, moss and so much more.
Flowers tend to be scattered around so many of the places we walk, try to identify the scents that tickle your nose on your walk. Honeysuckle, lavender, lilac, hydrangeas, daisies, tulips, oh so many to explore.
As fall starts to give way to winter you may still smell the crunchy leaves or those that have begun to break down, each offering a unique smell to breathe in deeply.
Did you pick up scents that remind you of your home in the winter months, pinecones, pine needles, red berries, cedar, oak or fir trees.
Roaring campfires may enter your nose as you take some of your hikes in national or local parks.