Pattern Practice
At the start of today’s circle we played this quick game.
We know that recognizing patterns is essential to understanding the complex interrelationships that make up our modern world. Kids who are skilled in this area excel in problem-solving and advanced level thinking. To this end, order we practice “patterning” skills as often as possible.
This is an activity that encourages kids to observe closely, think quickly, and train their minds to look for detail. They have fun doing it too!
Kids were asked to find a partner, and this time I asked them to just work with the person next to them.
The younger partner was instructed to observe the older partner.
I told them they could study that person for 30 seconds, and try to remember as many details as they could about what they saw. At the end of 30 seconds, they were asked to turn around and close their eyes. No cheating! The older partner gets 30 seconds to change something about their appearance. Some suggestions were to change the wrist they had a watch or bracelet on, unzip a sweatshirt, take out an earring, switch their shoes, etc.
Then, the younger partner was asked to turn around, open their eyes, and take 30 seconds to guess what what changed.
In this case, all groups had made their correct guesses before the 30 seconds were up. Some were as fast as 5 seconds.
After the first round, invite the partners to switch and repeat the process.
Then talk about the different things that people came up with to change about their appearance. Did some people have the same or similar ideas? Were there original ideas that only one person came up with? How did you notice the changes? Was there a method to your memorization?
Our students have asked to play this one again and again.