Good thinkers collaborate and communicate. These problems are ideal to work on with a partner. If we encourage our children to work in pairs or small groups and share ideas, they may learn to recognize that two heads can be better than one.
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SORTING SHAPES
Age 5 to 7
Challenge Level
Sara and Will were sorting some pictures of shapes on cards.
“I’ll collect the circles,” said Sara, “there are lots of those.”
“I’ll take the red ones,” answered Will, “I like red.”
Can you see any cards they would both want?
Here is a picture of all the cards they had.
This is a problem for a team of two, so that they are able to talk through their ideas with a partner.
How many cards could they have had each?
How many ways can you find to sort the cards?
Can you see any cards that are the same as other cards?
Download and cut into fifteen separate cards. SORTING SHAPES
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BUILDING WITH SOLID SHAPES
Age 5 to 7
Challenge Level
We have a box of solid shapes. In it there are cubes, triangular prisms, cones, cuboids, cylinders and tetrahedrons.
Which of the buildings below would fall down if we tried to make them? Which ones would be unstable and possibly collapse?
Test out your ideas with blocks.
