The Child's Love of Mystery
mystery
One day, years ago, when I was the director of a preschool, I walked in from the playground with a group of three-year-old children. As we entered the room, a child exclaimed, “Look, there’s a leaf on the floor!” As we bent down to inspect it, I said, “I wonder how that leaf got indoors.” The children scrunched up their faces, thought hard and then provided a variety of responses. Here are a few:
“Maybe a mouse picked it up outside and then brought it in.”
“Probably the wind was blowing and there was a tiny hole in the room and the wind blew the leaf into the hole.”
“I think it was here all the time.”
“Maybe somebody picked it up and carried it in their pocket.”
“I think somebody opened a window and a bird kicked the leaf in.”
“Did a dog come in here? Maybe one came in and brought it.”
A few days later, as I followed the same group of children in from the playground, I noticed a leaf hanging from a child’s sock. I pointed it out to the group, asking, “Do you think that’s how that leaf got into the room the other day?”
As if with one voice, the children shouted, “No!”
Surprised and delighted, I proceeded to ask them about their thinking and why they responded the way they did. What other ideas did they have? During our lovely conversation, I wrote down their ideas and explanations. I suggested that we keep thinking, investigate and try out some experiments to solve the mystery of the leaf finding its way indoors. They liked that plan.