Does Your Nose Smell? – Discovering Awareness with Professor ANT – Page 29

Discussion Guide · Discovering Awareness with Professor ANT

Does Your Nose Smell? Discussion Guide

Ages 4–8 · Classroom, library or home · About 20–30 minutes · Free to print and share

The one rule: don’t give the answer

Ask the question. Don’t explain or correct. Reply with another question, and listen to where they take it.
This book doesn’t come with an answer sheet. Answers aren’t the important part. The process is. A child who figures something out remembers it, because they built it.

1. The questionA funny question grabs attention. “Does your nose smell?”

2. The thinkingFollow up with “What happens then?” or “How would that work?”

3. The discoveryThe child figures it out, and it sticks.

Before you read

Show the cover and ask: “Does your nose smell?” Don’t laugh first. Wait. Some children will say “yes,” some “no,” and someone will notice the joke. Every answer is a good start. Ask, “Why do you think so?”

While you read: stop and wait

The book asks the questions. Stop at each one, wait, and let the children answer. Don’t explain.

Where to pause:

Page 5

“Does your nose smell?”

Page 7

“How does yours smell?”

Page 9

“Does that mean these people smell better?”

Page 13

“Did you know that our dogs can smell much better than we do?”

Page 20

“What does your nose know?”

Page 22

“No one knows the nose that knows it all, because the nose that knows it all knows no one.”

Page 25

“Hmmm, interesting, isn’t it?”

Page 30

“Some smells are pleasant and some may not be. You decide!”

Try it: three quick activities

Each one follows the same steps scientists use: guess, test, look at what happened, and decide. Check for allergies first. Teach children to “waft” (wave the smell toward their nose) instead of sniffing up close.

Does Your Nose Smell? – Discovering Awareness with Professor ANT – Page 13

1. Mystery smell cups

Put one thing in each of 4–5 covered paper cups with a small hole in the lid: a piece of bar soap, pencil shavings, a crayon, a fresh leaf or flower, a dab of lotion on a cotton ball. Number the cups. No food needed.

Guess: Can you name each smell with your eyes closed?
Test: Each child wafts and writes or draws a guess.
Vote: Thumbs up or down for each smell. (Page 30: “You decide!”)

2. How far does a smell travel?

Stand at the front of the room and open a bottle of scented lotion or hand sanitizer. Children raise a hand the moment they smell it.

Guess first: Who will smell it first? Who will smell it last?
Try again with a small fan blowing one way, just like the pie on page 19.

Does Your Nose Smell? – Discovering Awareness with Professor ANT – Page 28

3. The hold-your-nose smell test

Each child holds their nose closed with their fingers and wafts one of the smell cups. Then they let go and waft again.

Guess: Will you still smell it with your nose closed?
Then flip the book over and start Does Your Tongue Taste Good?

The big idea behind the book

Every Professor ANT book builds the same thinking path, the beginning of the scientific method:

Senses → Experience → Understanding → Reality

Senses	“I smell cookies.” All knowing starts with what we notice.
Experience	“When I smell cookies baking, I get hungry and happy.”
Understanding	“Odor particles float to my nose, and my brain figures out the smell.”
Reality	“I held my nose, and I couldn’t smell it. I tried again, and it happened again.” What stays true when you test it again is real.

Words to play with

odor · particle · sense · brain · pleasant · gene pool
Don’t define them first. Ask, “What do you think this word means, from the page?”

Take it home

Tonight, ask someone at home: “Does your nose smell?” Don’t explain the joke. Just listen to their answer and ask another question. Tomorrow, share what they said.