Catherine, from Kent, England, sent in this great idea, perfume making! Let’s take a look at it…
You will need:
Two bowls
Flowers
Water
A potato masher
A ladle
Essential oils
Pink food colouring (optional)
Bottles or containers for the perfume
Funnel
Stickers (optional)
We collected lots of flowers and put them in a pan with water. My daughter loved choosing the flowers and smelling each one.
I then gave her a potato masher to mash the flowers to release the scent. She did this for quite some time and really used her little arm muscles!
I then added a tiny amount of pink food colouring to some water in a bowl in our mud kitchen and she stirred it to make pink water. She then used a ladle to transfer some water in. She mashed the flowers again.
I then gave her some essential oils of lavender, strawberry and lemon and she put a few drops in of each. It smelt gorgeous!
Then it was time to sieve the mixture which we did into a separate bowl. We then had the beautifully scented liquid which was our perfume!
The last step was to carefully pour the liquid into the little spray bottles using a funnel (I got these little empty ones from Amazon, but you can use any bottles or jars). We had lots of liquid remaining which I’ve stored in jars to use in our mud kitchen another time.
We decorated the bottles with stickers and my daughter decided to also label to each one with a name of a family member or friend to give the the people she loves.
This is a fun little activity to do especially on a hot day. The water play was really refreshing and my daughter loved all the stirring, transferring, pouring, sieving and ladling. Lots of skills were practiced here and the scent was a wonderful sensory experience.
The essential oils worked really well to give the water a beautiful scent!
Do you have any other projects planned?
I have lots of ideas to try next! I’m really into my play doughs at the moment so I want to try making some different sensory doughs such as sand dough, mud dough and herb dough. I also recently got into tinker trays so I want to make some themed ones of these. I would also love to try soap making and making items from resin.
Tell the Housebound With Kids community a bit about yourself…
I’m Catherine from Kent in England. I’m a mum of two girls (ages 3 and 5). I’m also a part-time art teacher and small business owner.
@meophamminiartists
How are you finding being housebound so far?
It has been challenging and hard work but on the whole it’s been fun and fulfilling. We enjoyed slowing down our pace of life and living simply. I’ve had to think creatively about activities we can do each day that are both fun and educational and I’ve enjoyed this challenge!
Do you have any tips for other parents?
Cherish your moments with your family whenever you can. Keep in touch with friends and family. A good chat with another human outside of your household always helps!
Has this website and community helped you?
I think it’s a brilliant website! So many ideas all in one place and easy to find inspiration when you need it!
