Orange and Clove Pomanders-A Holiday Tradition

THE SCENT OF ORANGES, CLOVES AND CINNAMON easily transport many of us back to our childhood, invoking holiday memories of December, Christmas and more. In many countries, oranges studded with cloves, and often dusted with spices like cinnamon, are a common part of the holiday tradition, and are an easy craft to make with little kids.

Orange and clove pomanders for world language class

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:
*clementines or small oranges
*whole cloves (sometimes you can find these really inexpensively at dollar stores, Walmart, Ocean State Job Lot, etc)
*paper towels
*toothpicks (optional but recommended)
*cinnamon powder (optional)
*ribbon (optional)

TO MAKE:
Hand out one orange to each student/child along with bowls of whole cloves; also give each kiddo a paper towel- this will keep the juices from getting all over the table! Instruct students to poke the cloves into the oranges, either in a pattern, or just randomly if they are preschool or Kinders :) You can also use a sharpie to dot a pattern beforehand-this is really only feasible if you don't have tons of students like I do! To make piercing the rind easier, you can hand out toothpicks which kids can use to poke a hole prior to inserting each clove. Once kids have inserted cloves to their liking, you can dust it with cinnamon if you would like (this is a little messy so definitely optional and not necessary) and then they are done! You can add a piece of ribbon around the orange to make it more festive and allow it to be hung on a tree or window. ¡Ta-chán! A simple holiday craft for little hands with a cultural background :)

Naranjas y clavos de olor Instrucciones para confeccionar

YOU CAN ALSO PUT THESE ORANGES AWAY TO DRY OUT somewhat so they are more of a 'dried fruit' decoration.....but, funny story, I tried doing this once with a Third Grade class many years ago-we put the decorated oranges in paper bags, one for each student, and I put them all on a shelf in my office space. I left them there for a few weeks, as I had read you should...when I went to return them to my students, I discovered they had all molded and were just horrible! Needless to say, apparently my office space was not a dry location (subsequently we found significant mold all through the building-though not from my oranges lol)...and I couldn't return them to my kiddos-bummer!