By John Peacock

1.   Flip an encyclopaedia
Encyclopaedias are so cheap from Op. shops these days that you could probably get a few for nothing. They have one feature that I like and that is even better than Google. Because there is so much knowledge these days encyclopaedias tend to edit old stuff out to make room for more recent stuff. This means that there are things in the older ones that you won’t access in the more recent versions. In any case, this activity involves choosing a volume and one person riffling the pages while the other sticks his/her finger or hand into the pages being riffled. Wherever it lands that is what you study. If it is just too boring or way out, try again! 

2.   Compare cereal boxes
Take two or more breakfast cereal boxes containing the same stuff (e.g. biscuits or flakes etc.). Compare the ingredients and assess which taste better and which might be more healthy. How much of the claimed health benefits have to do with the milk that is poured over the cereal rather than the cereal itself? What does it taste like when wetted with water, fruit juice or other liquids? Weigh the contents in each box. The actual weight can differ considerably between brands and from what is claimed. Consider the colours of the packaging and compare with theories of colour proposed by artists. Suggest why reds and other warm colours appear on cereal boxes but whites, blues and other cool colours are associated with dairy products. Apart from all this, what is on the package to induce you to buy? Health messages – are they true and unique to this brand? Competitions and offers – are they relevant to anything? etc. Check out the hidden messages on flaps and inside surfaces and contact the container manufacturer for an explanation. When were breakfast cereals invented, by whom and why? Do those reasons still apply? How are cereal boxes made or folded together? Are there different shapes? What branch of mathematics is concerned with visualising folded and opened 3D shapes? Invent/design a better way of packaging/selling breakfast cereals. Think of second uses for breakfast cereal boxes.

3.   Cardboard modelling; furniture, housing, boats
Cereal boxes are made from cardboard. Where does it come from and how is it made? Can you make some or recycle the cardboard? Is MDF just thick cardboard? What can you make from cardboard using tabs and PVA or other glues? Sometimes a complete box, such as a matchbox, can be used whole as the basis for other models and toys. Here are some examples, but once you have the idea, experiment and try other things. What tunnels, houses, castles, rockets etc. can you make from freezer and cooker cartons for younger siblings to play in? How could you test the strength of cardboard creations? Could one make a real house from cardboard, or perhaps a road bridge?

4.   The journey game
This is a game I used to play for fun while teaching the basics of reading and thinking. Take a long, and large, if you can, piece of paper. Draw rivers, mountains, swamps, caves, dragon lairs etc. on it in sequence from left to right with pleasant places in between. You are the game master and each player has to journey from the left side of the paper to “home” on the right. There are a list of things that can be taken in a back-pack from which each player can choose three to aid him/her on the journey but each thing can only be used once. (You can make up other rules as the need arises.)
    The players each set out to be first to get home BUT, as long as s/he is fair, the game master can change things as the game goes along to introduce new hazards or good bits. There will probably be lots of violence, invention, argument, slap-stick comedy etc. as the game progresses but there will also be a lot of reading and other skills learned and practised.
    Each player gets to draw himself in his character at each stage and if he introduces hazards etc. for the other player he may express that in drawing too.

5.   Scouting pioneering
Scouting for boys and girls used to be about fun and surviving out of doors by using one’s wits and intelligence. It may still be fun, but I like the old scouting books that tell how to cross rivers or climb trees etc. With lengths of good rope, strong sticks and logs, no end of fun and useful gadgets can be made and group games played. Look in Op. shops for any Scout books and pamphlets, particularly those having to do with pioneering and camps.
You don’t have to be a Scout to enjoy the fun and learn the useful stuff underlying it. I used to take, for example, a class of 7-year-olds out to the bush to estimate the width of a creek using Scout methods. THEN they had to make a bridge of the length they had decided and try to cross. If they got it right they stayed dry, but if the bridge was too short….!

6.   Improbable story telling
Start with a familiar story and, without changing your voice as you read, gradually go off at a believable tangent which gets less and less believable as you go. It is a good check to see how well the children are listening. See how far you can get before they notice!
    Take a well-known proverb, nursery rhyme or idea and tell wacky stories about how it came to be, or what it really means. This often involves a play on words and other more advanced, imaginative  English skills but even very young children like it and are good at it.
© John Peacock, 2007