Teaching kindergarten is a bit like trying to herd cats — but it’s also one of the most joyful, fascinating, and rewarding teaching experiences there is.
I’ve just completed my first week back teaching kindy, and I wanted to share two moments that stayed with me — because they reminded me of something important: You don’t need fancy resources to create meaningful learning.
Sometimes, the most powerful learning comes from the smallest moments… if we know how to notice them and follow them.
A Kindergarten Teacher Mistake I Almost Made on Day One (And Why It Matters)
I nearly made a rookie mistake on day one of kindergarten. I had name writing ready to go.
And luckily, before I did it, I came to my senses and remembered: these are FOUR-year-olds.
Many children in kindergarten still don’t have their fine motor skills fully developed. Some don’t yet know how to hold a crayon or paintbrush correctly — and I was about to start the year by asking them to write their names.
Thank goodness I realised in time and saved my little ones from what would have been a disastrous start to kindergarten!
This was a powerful reminder for early years teachers:
Children learn best when we meet them where they are — not where a program or worksheet says they “should” be.
Curiosity in the Classroom: How Acorns Sparked Inquiry-Based Learning in Kindergarten
One of the best moments of the week began with something incredibly simple: Acorns.
The children were excited and completely enthralled by finding and collecting acorns — and the little caps from the acorns too. They had a whole heap of them.
So I found a plastic bag so they could collect them, and I suggested we put them into the nature tray — a large tray on the shelf with natural items and a magnifying glass.
The next morning, we were reading the creation story and talking about what things are from nature — like the acorns they had collected.
And in my best curiosity-inspiring voice, I explained how seeds fall to the ground, how they get covered in soil, and how it rains and the sun shines — and how those tiny seeds can grow into gigantic oak trees like the one in our garden.
Then we talked about the pinecones in the tray too.
One child picked up a pinecone, and low and behold… a seed popped out.
That was the moment everything shifted. I explained how pine seeds are carried in the wind on their little helicopter-like wings, fluttering down to the ground, and how with soil, rain, and sunshine, they grow into pine trees.
Then I took one of the seeds and dropped it from high up.
The children squealed with delight as it fluttered to the ground.
And the next thing you knew, the children were buzzing around the nature tray, looking at seeds through the magnifying glass and coming up to me with one question again and again:
“Is this a seed?”
Just like that, a fascination with seeds was awakened in them.
Later, when we went outside to play, one little girl was digging a hole and planting an acorn.
This is what curiosity-based learning looks like in real life — and it didn’t require a worksheet, a Pinterest activity, or a pre-planned unit.
Inquiry-Based Learning in Early Childhood: The Daytime Moon Question
The second moment happened during the same lesson.
After reading more of the creation story, one little girl piped up and announced that she had seen the moon in the sky on the way to school.
So I asked her what she was wondering about that. And she replied:
“Why was the moon and the sun in the sky in the daytime?”
She was clearly puzzled as to why the moon would appear in the sky when it was sunny.
And honestly — what a brilliant question.
This was another cue for me to capture a fabulous wondering.
So I hopped up, grabbed a large piece of paper, and wrote her question down. Now the next step will be to explore this question more deeply — and we’ll do that next week.
Student Engagement Strategies for Teachers: Following the Thread
Here’s the thing: These two moments could have so easily gone nowhere.
The acorns were there… and so what?
I could have just remarked on the children’s excitement and moved on.
And with the moon question, I could have simply said, “That’s a clever question,” or answered it quickly — and that would have been the end of it.
But instead, I chose to let my enthusiasm and curiosity infect them.
Without fancy resources, I used the children’s fascinations to spark their curiosity and awe about the world around them. And those small moments made the day.
This is one of the most effective student engagement strategies for teachers — especially in kindergarten and early years: Notice the moment. Capture it. Follow the thread.
Teaching Without Worksheets: How to Spark Curiosity in Kindergarten
One of the biggest myths in early childhood education is that we need more resources to teach well.
But the truth is: Children already arrive curious.
Our job is to nurture that curiosity — not squash it with developmentally inappropriate expectations or overly structured lessons.
When we slow down, observe what children are fascinated by, and respond with genuine interest, learning becomes alive.
And the best part? This kind of learning doesn’t add to your workload.
It often makes teaching feel lighter.
How to Use Children’s Questions to Plan Inquiry in the Kindergarten Classroom
The real trick is learning how to capitalise on these moments.
How do we take a child’s curiosity — like acorns or the daytime moon — and turn it into meaningful learning?
That’s where inquiry-based learning becomes powerful. It’s not about creating a huge project or doing a complicated unit.
It’s about:
- capturing children’s questions
- making their thinking visible
- exploring their wonderings through discussion, play, observation, and simple investigations
- building learning experiences around what is genuinely meaningful to them
When we do this, children feel ownership over learning — and engagement skyrockets.
A Simple Challenge for Early Years Teachers This Week
As you go into next week, I want to encourage you to look for those moments you can capitalise on.
Look for moments you can go deeper on.
Look for the tiny sparks that could become something bigger.
Because those are the moments that make learning come alive for children.
Want More Curiosity-Based Teaching Strategies?
If you’d like more support with this — simple strategies for spotting curiosity moments and turning them into meaningful learning — I’ve put together a short mini course that walks you through it step-by-step.
You can sign up here 👉 https://bloomingcurious.com/b/curiosity-without-chaos