Children’s early reading through the sense of smell: a typology of olfactory engagement

Abstract

We investigated adult–child shared book reading of olfactory books that stimulate the sense of smell through scratch-and-sniff surfaces. We observed ten adult–child dyads reading olfactory books at home and documented the characteristics and quality markers of their olfactory engagement. Drawing on the principles of learning sciences and socio-cultural learning theories, we propose a Typology of Olfactory Engagement that brings to the fore the potential of actively engaging the sense of smell during shared book reading. We outline how the Typology of Olfactory Engagement can serve as a basis for future studies exploring adult–child interaction in home learning environments.