If I were a teacher, I think show-and-tell might be one of those things that could go either way. Some kids don’t have cool things or experiences to share, and truly, you never know what kids are going to show up with in the first place.

These 17 teachers are sharing some pretty funny (and sometimes cringey) stories about what happened when they allowed their students to bring something from home.

17. Sort of sad.

Someone brought their pet bird-dead, in a box, that was going to be buried when they got home later that day.

16. Definitely unfortunate.

Only been teaching one year but so far, moms only set of car keys.

We did call mom immediately but unfortunately she was stuck at home all day until little one got home with the keys.

15. So much for that secret.

I knew a dude who was a teacher of primary school aged kids.

They had a sink in their classroom that became clogged. “I wonder what could be blocking the drain?” he said out loud.

“Bags of drugs!” blurted out one of the kids.

…turns out the girls dad was a dealer who would hide bags of drugs in the drains under the sinks in their house.

14. So not ok.

In 5th grade, we were studying human anatomy.

When we got to the eyes, a kid brought in a bag full of cow’s eyes. His dad worked in a slaughterhouse. Teacher was horrified.

I should add that my classmate brought them in, unannounced. The teacher had no plans for dissection, was going to show us a filmstrip about eyes or something.

13. I bet there were a lot more laundry rocks after that.

In my school some kid brought in his collection of “laundry rocks” which were crumpled up pieces of paper that he put in his pockets and when his mom did the laundry they would turn hard like rocks.

He said he did it by accident once, liked it, and started deliberately putting crumpled paper in his pockets to make more.

12. Good lord, the smell.

Wasn’t show and tell but once during morning break while I was a student teacher, two 6 year olds came to find the class teacher in the staff room. They had something to show her.

She came back with pictures, these boys had found half a dead and decomposed hedgehog and decided to pick it up and put it on her desk.

Needless to say hands were thoroughly washed and drenched in sanitiser.

11. Those were the days.

1993, grade 3 primary school in Australia. My show and tell was rotten egg gas, I had a class mate hold a test tube that contained sulfur power while i added hydrochloric acid, no protective gear used.

None of the adults saw any issue with this.

10. He didn’t see the issue.

I brought 2 knives. My dad is from a region in France where they make famous knives (Laguiole) and I owned two of them (one made of horn and one was bright orange).

It didn’t cross my mind it could be a problem, but they called my parents (who weren’t mad at me)

9. He turned out fine.

My best friend in grade school brought a huge hunting knife one day.

He missed a week of school and my parents didn’t let me hang out with him anymore after that.

He ended up becoming an ump in MLB and always gave out tickets to his buddies.

Thanks mom and dad. I like free tickets too.

8. Different times, for sure.

My dad tells a story about when he brought his dad’s bird hunting shotgun and ammo to school for show and tell.

It was rather uneventful. My grandpa walked out to the bus with him and told the bus driver that he was taking it in for show and tell. Dad got to school, put the gun in his locker, and went and got it when it was time for show and tell. He put it back in his locker after the presentation, then took it home on the bus.

…Very different times.

7. Bad surprise, good surprise.

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I taught 5th grade in a school with really rich kids and really low income kids bussed in. One of the low-income kids brought a coconut for her show and tell about Trinidad, where her dad was from. She cracked it open — it was completely rotten inside and smelled awful.

I was so worried about the kid being embarrassed, but then one of the rich kids (who was also of a pretty low intellect) looked at it with wide eyes and said “It’s like the earth: the core, the mantle and the crust!” which is something I think he had never really understood before.

So it actually turned out pretty well.

6. Not a rabbit’s foot.

The teacher across the hall from me had a student who brought what he thought was a lucky rabbit foot to show to the class and excitedly announced he had enough for everyone in the class.

The rabbit foot was a tampon.

5. Oopsie.

Not a teacher but one of the the kids in my class brought a remote control helicopter to class and flew it around. It was super cool until he accidentally got the blades wrapped around a girls hair.

I think the nurse spent an hour getting it out.

4. This is a nightmare.

My brother found a scorpion at our house and captured it to bring for show and tell. The scorpion got out somehow and the teacher had everyone on high alert to look for it and capture it.

Several children returned to the teacher having “found” the scorpion.

That was the day we found out our school was infested with scorpions…

3. It is interesting.

in the third grade, a girl brought her mom’s kidney stones in a pill bottle.

2. Isn’t that charming.

A dead frog that had been converted into a coin purse.

1. Don’t try this at home.

Not a teacher but there was a girl in my brother’s year whose dad owned a junk/salvage place. Girl brings in an old thermometer. Okay cool, whatever.

She then goes “and then this is the most fun part” and proceeds to smash the thermometer on the desk and play with the mercury.

Idk how that got resolved but I do know that by the time I got to first grade, we no longer had show and tell.

 

I have no idea how I might have handled some of these; teachers are amazing.

If you’re a teacher, we want to hear your answer to this question down in the comments!