Home Page \(\blacktriangleright\) Children and Youth Unit \(\blacktriangleright\) Games for Flexible Minds \(\blacktriangleright\) Box Stone
Games for Flexible Minds: Box Stone
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Activity Flow
Children need to discover the secret rule of the game through trial and error.
How to play?
Step 1: Presenting the objects:
Place the objects in the center of the circle.
Explain to the children that the goal is to take one object out of the circle per turn, but only if it is “allowed” according to the secret rule.
Step 2: Demonstration and misleading:
The facilitator takes out an object and explains: “I am allowed to take this one out.”
Then, they try to take out a different object and say: “I am not allowed to take this one out.”
The secret rule is (for example): It is allowed to take out an object only if it is red (or: only if it is round, or: only if the object’s name starts with the letter B).
The facilitator continues to take out objects according to the rule, or “tries” to take out other objects (and fails).
Step 3: Discovering the rule:
The children take turns trying to take out an object. The facilitator only says “allowed” or “not allowed” (it is worth asking “what do you think the rule is?”, to encourage thinking).
Step 4: Implementation and change:
When a child discovers the rule (or guesses correctly), they become the facilitator.
After the rule is solved, choose a new set of objects and change the secret rule (for example, the rule is now: “only wooden objects are allowed”).
The need to switch thinking from one rule to another is the development of cognitive flexibility.
Required materials
3-5 different objects (for example, a stone, a small box, a ball, a doll, a branch).
