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There can be accidents or mistakes. Some turn out good, some bad. Mistakes are made every day and by many different people. If everybody knew the number of inventions that were accidental, they would be surprised!

Some inventors were not only smart, they were also alert. Even though an idea they had failed, they found another use for their failure. Some of these mistakes turned out to be fun, interesting, and sometimes humorous.  The mistakes that worked are from many different areas and have many different uses.

Tasty Mistakes - Food  

Did you know that some of America's favorite foods were invented by mistake?  Click on the ice cream cone to learn how the chocolate chip cookie, ice cream cone, and potato chip went from a chef's mistake to some of every kids' favorite foods.

Fun Mistakes - Toys  

Many common toys were also invented on accident.  Inventors had a lot of fun when they discovered that they had invented the Frisbee, the Slinky, and Silly Putty by mistake.  Click on the toy to learn more about these accidental inventions especially for kids.

Sticky but Useful Mistakes  

Experiments gone wrong and walks in the country led to the invention of two sticky inventions we could hardly live without today:  Post-It Notes and Velcro.  Click on the tape dispenser to learn about these sticky but useful mistakes.

I know I couldn’t live without potato chips and chocolate chip cookies for after school snacks, or Post-it Notes to remind me of things to do. (Maybe I could live without them, but it wouldn’t be nearly as nice.) I wonder how many more things that I use every day were possibly invented by mistake! 

Click on the type of mistake you would like to learn more about from the list above.  Then click on the puzzle to solve our Mistakes that Worked Double Puzzle.

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