I, Cinnamon: The Spice with a Sweet Story 🌿🍂✨

I am Cin 👏 na 👏 mon 👏 a spice that comes from the smooth bark of a special tree. My story begins deep in the forests of tropical forests, where I grow tall and strong. 🌳 To become the cinnamon you know, people carefully peel off my bark, revealing my sweet, aromatic layers underneath. These strips of bark are left to dry in the sun, curling up into the familiar cinnamon sticks you see today. 🌞 But how did they found what secret I was hiding? I looked like an ordinary tree..

But did you know that I’ve been around for thousands of years? Long ago, people considered me so precious that I was once traded like gold! 🌍✨I was so highly valued in ancient trade routes. It was primarily traded by Arab merchants, who kept the origins of cinnamon a closely guarded secret for centuries. Because wasn’t just used to make food tastier—I was also a healer. My spicy warmth comforted people during cold seasons, and my oils soothed sore muscles and upset stomachs. I could even help clear stuffy noses! 🌿🍵

Humans soon discovered that I made their kitchens smell cozy and inviting. They ground me into powder and sprinkled me into all kinds of delicious foods—cinnamon rolls, cookies, pies, and even savory dishes! 🍪🥧 But my story doesn’t end there. My sweet and spicy scent isn’t just for food; I’m also used in perfumes, candles, and potpourri to make homes smell wonderful. 🕯️🌸

As I travel from the forests to your kitchen, I bring warmth, sweetness, and a little bit of magic wherever I go. My name comes from the Ancient Greek word kinnámōmon, meaning "sweet wood." I was given this name because of my rich, warm aroma that people loved for centuries. 🌿✨

So here I am, rolled bark, ready to be grinned and sprinkled into something delicious. 🌿🍂✨

🌰 What other things do you think cinnamon could be used for? Next time you smell or taste cinnamon, think about all the different ways I’ve been used around the world. But is there different types of cinnamon? Can you just strip any tree bark, dry it and grind it on your dish ? Or perhaps you would like to find what are the main producers of cinnamon in the world.🌳👩‍🍳✨

I-narrative stories are best told aloud, allowing children to fully engage their imagination and connect deeply with the subject. Sometimes, we use charts or visual aids to spark even more curiosity and understanding. I tailor these stories because of my passion for storytelling and my desire to connect children with the world around them. Through stories, children can explore nature, history, art, biology, music, geometry, language, geography and the wonders of the universe in a way that feels memorable and alive.

With Montessori joy,
Vanina 😊