There was a happy accident in kindergarten today.  

We were doing some explorations with trees, leaves, twigs, and pinecones, when the kids started asking about hidden seeds inside of pinecones.  They could see the seeds in there, but they didn’t come out very easily.  We tried digging a few out with a pencil, but it just wasn’t working.  As the kids were investigating, the clumsy teacher (me) started fumbling with a few pinecones and one fell to the ground.  As it hit the floor, I heard the kids yell, “Woah!”  Dozens of tiny pinecone seeds were scattered all around. 

There were a few kids right beside me who asked, “Can I try that?”  Well, of course I told them they should!  They hung their arms out like branches, held their pinecones, and dropped them one by one to the ground.  It wasn’t too long before the rest of the class was joining in.  It was an accidental lesson in the way new trees grow, where the seeds come from, and how the seeds fall to the ground.  It was messy, but it was a fabulous lesson.

We had just finished reading this book from DK Readers, which was a perfect tie in.