Moments with Yaya
Smell
Yaya is learning all the different sense of your body. She knows her eyes can see things, she can hear with her little ears, touch things with her fingers, taste different foods and best of all, she can smell things with her nose. The different smells or aromas that we come across in our daily lives can be good and bad smells. Yaya loves to smell the beautiful fragrances flowers in her garden. She loves the smell of food cooking in the kitchen. Yaya also recognises bad smells, like if the milk has gone sour. The sense of smell is the very first sense that babies use. Every person has their own special smell called a “smellprint”. Babies can smell their mommy and know they are safe. Children up to 4 years old, find all smells interesting and very seldom bad. The two holes at the bottom of your nose that allow you to breathe and smell are called nostrils.
LEARN ABOUT SMELL
Our sense of smell plays an important role in our development. Smells of specific foods can trigger hunger and a non-food fragrance like dad’s deodorant can trigger a memory.
Did you know that our noses have special cells inside that help us smell? In general men usually have a bigger nose than a woman! In some cultures such as the Maori in New Zealand, they press their noses together to greet each other. The nasal cavity of our nose is at the roof of our mouths, this is why sometimes we can often taste what we are smelling. Sometimes when we smell something really good, like biscuits baking in the oven, our mouths tend to water. This is because your body recognises the smell and your taste buds start to look forward to tasting those yummy cookies! If you block your nose when you eat, it is very difficult to taste what is in our mouths. If you have a head cold and a snotty nose, you will find it very difficult to taste anything! Some people do have no sense of smell. This is called anosmia. This can be a birth defect or happen to you if you have had a head injury or nerve damage due to an accident.
Our smell senses can recognise over 10 000 familiar smells. Animals have a much stronger sense of smell than humans, and can smell something miles away. When we are in a deep sleep, our sense of smell actually switches off for that sleep period.
