I saw a photo of pomanders in a magazine and was inspired to turn it into a holiday activity for my son. Making pomanders turned out to be a great way to exercise those fine motor skills.
All you need:
- a few oranges
- cloves
- a nail
- masking tape (optional)
- ribbon (optional)
Since poking the cloves into the orange took some strength, Kiddo used a marker to make dots where he wanted holes and I poked holes with a nail for him.
He became really involved with this and worked for a while independently (always my secret goal) and I must admit, I found it quite relaxing, too. Plus, now my fingers smell great!
Some instructions advise using orrisroot to help preserve the pomanders. I didn’t bother with that, however. I’ll just compost them when they start to mold. I put blue tape on the one orange you see in the photo as a guide, after I removed it, I tied on a ribbon.
One request… please let your child chose where to put his cloves! Don’t draw a pretty design for him to follow. Independent creativity is best.
5orangepotatoes says
We love making these! They smell so yummy. I have the girls poke a fork into the orange to make holes for the cloves. Ours keep for a long time, depending on the amount of cloves the orange has.
happy holidays!
Raising a Happy Child says
I have never heard about them until one of my online friends mentioned them on her blog. Sounds like fun… next year project by now 🙂