Toddler Activities: Make Your Own Holiday Potpourri

Description

Toddler Activities: Cinnamon smelling potpourri with tangerine peels and kumquats make this a beautiful Fall or Christmas decoration. Add this with some fragrant orange peels, pine cones and cloves to make your own holiday potpourri.

Materials

• Cinnamon Dough Recipe Here

• Small Cookie cutters or small metal decorative cutters

• Lime or Tangerine peels

• Kumquats(6-7)

• Whole Cloves

• Star Anise (10-12)

• Artificial berries and leaves or flowers for additional color

• In the Fall you can add: Acorns, Pine Straw, Sweet Gum Balls, Colorful Leaves

Other Materials

• Toothpick
• Container such as small bowl or vase
• Orange or Lemon Peels add color but will be need to be cut by an adult. Tip: Use a small wooden block on top of your cutter and press to cut shape out

Steps

• Follow Cinnamon Dough Recipe and roll out onto wax paper or parchment paper. Roll until it is about 1/4 inch thick.
• Cut out your cinnamon potpourri pieces using cookie cutters or molds.
• Bake 175-200 degrees F for about one hour turning every 15 minutes or let air dry for a couple days.
• Press metal cookie cutters into tangerine peels.
Make holes in kumquats with a toothpick, this will allow for the whole cloves to be inserted easily. Press 3-5 cloves into kumquats.
• When cinnamon pieces are dry arrange it all in a small vase or bowl.

Tips and Suggestions

• Change cutters according to holiday/season.
• Cloves are a preservative and the fruit may turn brown where they are place but that is part of the drying process.
• Anise stars can be glued to the cinnamon cookies or just added to the potpourri mix

• Pour into a small lacy bag, tie with ribbon for a sachet.
• Have child close eyes and see if they can identify the different smells.

Educational Benefits

• Helps develop fine motor skills.
• Explore sense of smell.