About 10 min
What you’ll need
- Six to ten safe household objects
How to do it
- An adult secretly chooses a rule, such as ‘things made of metal’. Create two groups.
- The child tests ideas by moving one object and explaining why.
- Swap roles and let the child invent a fair rule.
The challenge
What feature might every object in this group share?
Feedback
Look for evidence that fits every item, then test the idea on a new object.
Can you think of an object that would disprove your rule?
Feedback
Trying to disprove an idea is a powerful reasoning habit.
What this practices
This activity practices classification, flexible thinking and explaining evidence.
For the adult
Treat guesses as experiments. There is no score, and needing clues is part of the activity.