Welcome to NTC for All project! In this section we will present you with some activities, that can inspire you in your work with children while supporting their development. These inspirations represent basic NTC techniques and examples. Similar activities, if practised regularly, on a long – term basis, can contribute to development of biological potential of children, support their cognitive processes, increase mental capacity and develop good basis for later functional thinking. In NTC, you can be inspired by activities developed by other teachers and use them, or create your own. More in-depth knowledge and skills are acquired on the NTC seminars. The project is co-financed by the European Union, ERASMUS+ program. The opinions presented in this document are the views of the NTC FOR ALL project partnership and do not have to express the opinions of the EU.
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s e s a h P 3 f o s t s i s n o c m a r g ro al r u e n f o n o i t a l t n e m Phase I - stimu p o l e v e d s thway a p d n a s n o i t c conne
The physical exercises regularly used within the NTC program are complex polygons, which require a child to be in constant movement, to pay attention to balance, to do rotations, to use fine motor skills and dynamic eye accommodation, to observe what is going on around and all of this while performing cognitive tasks. Those elements we often find in old, almost forgotten games, such as marbles or elastic game. It is always desirable to add some new element to an existing game in order to increase increases the level of complexity and difficulty of a game. Here are some the NTC games that you can use in everyday work with children. They will also guide you in creating your own games:
Examples of activities: 1. “Paper ball-throwing�: making paper balls out of chopped newspapers and shooting a target or paper basket placed one meter away. A slightly more demanding version of the game involved two 6-8-meter-long lines at a 2-meter distance from each other out in the yard and the children grouped into two teams aiming at the opponent team while on the move and dodging paper balls thrown at them. Children are divided into two teams. They stay behind the line and shoot each other. They are constantly in movement and have to avoid the paper balls thrown at them. A child hit by the ball is out of the game. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: newspapers, twine or rope to mark the playground lines, basket or paper box Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week, 10 minutes 3
2. “Stork”: stork on a wire, a one-foot rope stand. After a while, i.e. when the children master the game, a ball can be passed to them as they’re performing the one-foot stand, which they should throw into the box placed on the floor one meter away. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: twine or rope, ball, paper box or basket Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week, 3 minutes 3. “Squirrels, basketball players”: throwing chestnuts into (paper) cups. When they master the basic version of the game, they get more difficult task: randomly arranged cups with stickers on which a specific bird is presented (e.g. swallow, crow, hummingbird, raven, condor). The goal is to use mental serration during the game. A child throws the chestnut first into the cup with the sticker of the smallest bird (for example hummingbird), gradually reaching the cup with a sticker of the largest bird (and this should be the last chestnut). Time is limited to 30 seconds. Every seven days, five new animals are introduced in order to always have complex cognitive processes. When children master this level, instead of birds, we introduce flags for example. On stickers, we can either put a flag of a country or an association (e.g. Eiffel Tower for France, four-leaf clover for Ireland, etc.). The learning of countries is not a part of the kindergarten curriculum, so for the requirements of this game, children acquire the necessary knowledge through the other NTC games (for example every week, children wear a badge of a particular country. This way, they learn names of many countries, recognize them on a map, they learn the sizes and few associations). This game is played three times a week for 5 minutes.
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Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: chestnut/or stones, paper cups, pictures of several kinds and sizes of birds, animals, national flags etc. Recommended frequency and length of play: three times a week, 5 minutes. Time to think 30´
4. “Nesting sparrows”: two-foot jumps forwards and backward into white, yellow, and green hoops. Upon landing into a green hoop, the child is supposed to perform a squat. Upon landing into a white hoop, the child is supposed to perform a rotation. Upon landing into a yellow hoop, the child is supposed to perform a one-foot stationary jump three times. This game is played every day for 15 minutes. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: hoops of 3 different colours, Recommended frequency and length of play: three times a week, 15 minutes a day. 5. “Cinderella”: picking grains from the table and throwing them into a plastic cup. When children get enough skilled with this movement, grains are placed into a bowl of flour so children cannot see the grains. The goal is to pick up a specific type of grain (corn, rice, wheat, etc.), and put it into another bowl. Once they had mastered this skill, children are supposed to collect the grains using only
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their thumb and pinkie finger as their index, middle, and ring finger are taped together. This game is played twice a week for 15 minutes. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: grains of different sizes (corn, rice, wheat etc.), paper cups, bowl with flower Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week, 15 minutes. 6. “Buttons, laces, play dough, paper cuts”: open up and close the buttons, tie up laces, tie up the knots, create figures from the play dough, symbols of cars, flags, cut and fold the paper and create boats, hats, airplanes, etc. Activities supporting soft motor skills. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: buttons of different colours and sizes, laces of different lengths and sizes, play dough and other materials enhancing soft work with fingers. Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 15 minutes. 7. “Frogs”: leaps from a crouching posture. In each leap, the children are required to say a word from the vocabulary they were expected to learn (names of wild animals, domestic animals, colours, objects, etc.). Later on, we introduce a clap for every jump. This game is played twice a week. Age of children: 3+ Materials and equipment: none Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week, 15 minutes.
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8. “Smashing of cones”: a competition game played twice a week. Children are divided into national teams (e.g. Serbia, Mexico, Italy)
and then they make their own cones out of toilet paper rolls – they paint them with particular colours and then stack them according to the colours of “their” flag until the flag is formed. This way they also learn flags, which is useful for other NTC games as well. Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: toilet paper rolls in higher quantity, paint colours, coloured papers in the colours of flags, glue stick Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week 9. “Building the leaning tower of Pisa”: children build a leaning tower by stacking wooden sticks, blocks, or other small objects. This game is played once a week. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: wooden sticks, blocks, toilet paper rolls or other small objects Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week 10. “Cowboy”: a dance where children clap and stamp to a particular song with a particular rhythm. This game is played once a week for 10 minutes. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: recording of a rhythmic song or melody Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week, 10 minutes 11. “Walking books”: a race along the 2-meter stretch of the magic line in which a child is balancing a book on their head. A more complex version of the game involves walking while
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reciting a nursery rhyme. Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: twine or rope for “magic line”, book Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week 12. „Polygon“: polygon is a complex game consisting of several features, supporting healthy physical movements developing brain areas and neurological pathways. Such movements can include jumping, rotation, running, backward walk, rotation, balance support etc. Polygons can be based on „trails“ prepared for children on the floor inside the classrooms or outside, on school yards or public places. Additionally, aspects of cognitive games described in phases II or III can be added to physical movements. Games combining these aspects can be for children even more interesting and engaging. Age of children: 3+ Materials and equipment: twine or rope for “polygon line”, or drawings of lines prepared by children themselves by chalks, or by adhesive tapes on the classroom floors Recommended frequency and length of play: twice a week, 20 minutes
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13. „Train your eyes”: – games supporting dynamic eye accommodation, using skipping ropes Divide children in the groups of 3. Let each group have a skipping rope. Two children rotate the skipping rope and the third one jumps with a) both feet, facing the rope b) both feet, turned by the side to the rope c) facing the rope but changing the feet as if walking. This exercise can be performed also individually. Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: skipping ropes Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 10 minutes 14. „Train your eyes“ – games supporting dynamic eye accommodation, using a ball, standing Divide children in pairs and provide a ball to each pair. Let them stand 2 – 3 m from each other. Children throw a ball to each other, catching it by both hands in the height of chest. The child who is catching should hold the hands by palms facing upwards, gently bent in elbows („catching in a basket“). The child throwing the ball holds it by palms, with fingers maximally spread around the ball. Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: ball for each pair Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 10 minutes 15. „Train your eyes“– games supporting dynamic eye accommodation, using a ball, sitting Let children sit in a circle on a floor, with their legs spread. They pass a ball to each other using their hands, rolling it on the floor. Change the direction after 2 – 3 minutes. 9
Age of children: 3+ Materials and equipment: ball for each pair Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 10 minutes 16. „Train your eyes“ – games supporting dynamic eye accommodation, using a ball, running Mark several circles on a classroom or playground floor. Divide children into the groups. Child “A” stands in the middle of the circle, throws the ball into the air and calls the name of a child “B”, who stands on the circle line. Child “A” quickly leaves the middle position and runs to the place of child “B”, who tries to catch a ball. Now child “B” takes turn in throwing a ball into the air. Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: ball for each group Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 10 minutes
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17. “Slalom for the small ones” – games supporting rotation Children run slalom between marked signs, bending down and touching the signs along the line – on the right side, left side. They start running with the feet corresponding to the side they start first at. The distance between signs and the line length should reflect the age of children.
Age of children: 3+ Materials and equipment: marked line and signs on each side of the line Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 2 – 3 minutes 18. “Slalom for the bigger ones” – games supporting rotation Divide children in groups. Place 2 – 3 signs in front of each group. Groups competition and team cooperation. One child from each group runs around the first signs (right side turn), around the second and the third one, turning around each. continuing to the starting line. As soon as they are back, second child starts running etc. All children take their turn. Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: marked line and signs on each side of the line Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 2 – 3 minutes 19. “Storks jump”- games supporting balance Let children stand in a line. They jump on one foot following the line on a floor across the room. In the middle they can change the foot. Their arms should be loose, what helps them keeping the balance. They should keep their heads in straight position, watching to the front. Age of children: 5+
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Materials and equipment: line marked across or around the room Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 10 - 15 minutes 20. “Touch your foot”- games supporting balance Backwards bend. Let children stand with their feet on the width of their arms and bend backwards, touching their right foot with the right hand and repeat 2 – 3 times. Then touch the left foot with the left hand. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 10 minutes 21. “Slack line - rope walk” - games supporting balance Divide children in groups or let them stand in a line. Let them walk on the thick rope, one by one, trying to keep the balance. Make sure they have enough space between them to walk. Age of children: 3+ Materials and equipment: thick rope or gym bench Recommended frequency and length of play: daily, 5 - 10 minutes
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on of i t a l u m i t s – I I Phase ent m p o l e v e d s e s s c o g n i t i v e p ro c e The second phase starts with children learning to recognize abstract concepts. It is the most adequate to use symbols and concepts that surround children, such as car logos or country flags. At the beginning, children are presented with recognizable abstract symbols, which is the activity they practise every day. The games with abstract symbols are not only useful per se but they are also a basis of subsequent parts of the Program that are more complex. As for the types of activities, following fall under this phase: • Abstract concepts, visualisations • Thought classification (sorting) a seriation (sequencing) • Associations • Music • Illogical stories and fairy – tales Examples of activities:
22. “Read with a move” game – example of game based on association The movement is a basic element for the brain development. Combining pictures and rhythm with a specific movement creates very useful and dynamic sensorimotor game that children gladly take part in. When creating “Read with a move” game, you can use the signs and symbols from children’s everyday life (flags, car logos, etc.). Every picture/symbol represents one particular movement (e.g. apple – clap, pear – finger snap). Children perform the movements according to the given picture, thereby creating a whole succession of movements when presented with a whole set of pictures and symbols. The winner is a child with the most “read movements”. Aim of this activity is: attention and concentration improvement, rhythmicity development, development of eye-hand coordination skill, improvement of abstract classification and associative thinking. 13
Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: cards with symbols or posters with different symbols/pictures, colour pens, papers Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depending on the size of a group Examples of “read with a move game”: 23. Use the symbols of flags and suggest movements related to them. Then “act” the movements to your friends or ask them to perform them. Older children (7+) can create such a game by themselves in small groups. SK CZ
Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: cards with symbols of flags, or posters with different flags, colour pens, papers Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depending on the size of a group 24. Use the symbols /pictures representing nature things or transport objects, foods, etc. and suggest movements related to them. Then “act” the movements to your friends or ask them to perform them. Older children (7+) can create such a game by themselves in small groups.
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Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: colour pens, papers, pictures of objects for smaller children Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depending on the size of a group 25. „What is it?“ game example based on Abstract concepts, visualisations We introduce children symbols that we practice daily with them.. e.g. names of Sports clubs, car brands (Ford, Fiat, ...), goods (Lego, Barbie, .... Nestle, Milka). Games based on symbols are suitable for practicing also sorting or sequencing. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: the stock of concepts ready/names, brands, logos, flags, … Recommended frequency and length of play: daily 5 – 10 minutes 26. „Mishmash“ game example based on associations When children master a certain number of flags, the teacher can move on to teaching associations of the countries whose flags they have already learned. This is realized through presenting children country flags and they need to respond with an association on the presented country. For example, a teacher says: “pizza”, a child says: “Italy”, then the teacher says: “Rubik’s cube”, the child says: “Hungary” etc. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: the stock of concepts ready/names, brands, logos, flags and associated pictures to match to the concepts/cards Recommended frequency and length of play: 2 times per week for 10 minutes
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27. „Twister with the flags“ - game based on associations, involves gross motor skills Put pictures of different flags on the floor. Ask children to touch with their feet or hand the country that flag represents. E.g. teacher says „“Italy“ so the children have to touch the Italian flag on the floor. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: pictures of the flags of several countries, or cards with the flags Recommended frequency and length of play: ones a week, 20 minutes 28. „Tell which one is not correct“ - game based on thought classification (sorting) and seriation (sequencing) Let children find similar flags (e.g. same colours, symbols etc.). Identify, pair or sort flags according to some criteria. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: cards with the flags Recommended frequency and length of play: 2 times per week, 15 minutes
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29. The illogical story is a technique used for memorizing concepts and words. It consists of making a story out of three (or more) words, i.e. nouns. A story should be as simple as possible and not have many additional words. Give children 3 words that are not linked to each other in any way and ask them to develop and illogical story. Examples of different stories made of same words: WORDS: panda, traffic-lights, and newspaper LOGICAL STORY: I have seen a panda and traffic-lights in the newspaper. MEANINGLESS STORY: Traffic-lights ate the panda, while the newspaper was watching it. GOOD ILLOGICAL STORY: Panda is sitting on the traffic-lights and reading the newspaper Age of children: 7+ Materials and equipment: pictures representing different words, or just words without pictures for older children, colour pens, papers Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depends on the size of the group More examples of illogical stories: Create an illogical story from the following words:
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Italy, cat, button • The cat sits on a sloping tower in Pizzas and sews a button on its legs. • I met a cat who had buttons and a tie in the color of the Italian flag instead of her eyes. • The cat buttoned on her jacket and put on boots in the shape of Italy. Carnival, corn, happiness • Corn put on a popcorn jumpsuit for the carnival and danced happily with the cowboy. • Lucky corn grew up to karnveal to Rio. • Corn broke from happiness when it came to the carnival 30. Create an illogical fairy tales from given words. SK Given words: Bacon, rain, wolf/slaninka, dážď, vlk Tri nastávajúce slaninky putovali po lese a hľadali zmysel života. Prišli na to, že najdôležitejšie v živote je dobre sa zaúdiť. Mladšia slaninka Beach sa vyvalila na pláži a čakala. Slnko zapadlo a začala pršať. Slaninka Beach zostala nezaúdená a mokrá. Staršia slaninka Solar sa rozhodla zavrieť do solária. “Tu nezmoknem.” pomyslela si. Dážď spôsobil elektrický skrat a solárium sa vyplo.
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Najstaršia slaninka Grill mala najviac rozumu a využila výhodné ceny na konci letnej sezóny a zakúpila si v Tescu Weber gril. Prišiel vlk. Prvá slaninka sa mu nepáčila, druhou pohrdol a tretiu s chuťou zožral. CZ Given words: Scoutgirl, biscuit, hospita/skautka, sušienka, nemocnica Pohádka o Béďovi V jednom bytě žil s rodiči chlapeček Béďa. Jednoho dne šli rodiče nakoupit a nechali Béďu samotného doma. Než odešli, připomněli mu, aby nikomu neotvíral. Po chvíli, kdy rodiče odešli se ozvalo zaklepání na dveře. Béďa byl zvědavý, kdo je za dveřmi a proto otevřel. Ve dveřích stála sympatický mladá skautka, která nabízela sušenky. Béďa se zdráhal, že sušenky nemůže, protože má cukrovku. Skautka ho chvíli přesvědčovala, že v sušenkách žádný cukr není, ať určitě ochutná. Béďa nakonec neodolal a jednu sučenku snědl. Za pár minut se ale stalo neštěstí. Béďa dostal glykemický záchvat. Protože byl poučený, zvládl si ještě zavolat sanitku, která ho odvezla do nemocnice. Po chvíli se rodiče vrátili domů, ale Béďu tam nenašli. Od sousedů se dozvěděli, že ho odvezla sanitka. Vydali se tedy rychle do nemocnice. Béďovi už bylo docela dobře a musel rodičům slíbit, že už nikdy nikomu cizímu neotevře a hlavně, že nemá nikdy věřit cizím lidem. SI Given words: Flamenko, 7 pršutov, toredor 20
Paloma in 7 pršutov Živel je slikar Pablo. Imel je hčer palomo. Nanjo je bila zelo ljubosumna mačeha Esemralda, saj je Paloma prekašala v plesanju flamenka. Poslala jo je v Andaluzijo, kjer je Palom. Zašla v sušilnico sedmih pršutov. Mačeha jo je hotela ubiti, zato ji je prinesla paello z zastrupljenimi olivami. Paloma jo je pravočasnovidela i zašela v Esmeraldo metati pršute. Pokončal jo je komaj sedmi. In prav takrat je na črnem biku Ferdinandu prijezdil čudovit toredor Antonio. Odšla sta na poročno potovanje na Majestvo, kjor Ferdinand še dan današuji uči turiste plesati flamenko. SRB Kolibri, noga, sladoled - štapić: Kolibri je slomio nogu, pa je imobilisao sa štapićem od sladoleda. Plava, Japan, riba: Nindža plete Štrumfeti riblju kost. Slon, miš, bicikl: Slon na biciklu beži od miša. Švedska, dimnjak, paprika: Pipi Duga Čarapa peče paprike na dimnjaku. Medved, Brazil, jogurt: Polarni medved na Kopakabani se maže jogurtom jer je izgoreo. 21
31. „Rhyme or sing a poem“ - game example using the music In NTC, music can be used for easier learning of abstract symbols (flags, countries, ...). We can sing a concrete melody with children reminding us of a concrete country or develop a short poem associated to some country and music, etc. You can also use rhythmical music instruments (e.g. percussions). Example of rhythmical poem related to „China“ (in Slovak language...) Letí bocian letí, Krajom plným detí Papajúcim ryžu Panda naňho hľadí Ani jej nevadí Velikánsky múr Deliaci jej chyžu Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: pen, music instrument Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week, 30 minutes 32. „Where are we now?“ – game based on music and associations Listen to the music of different countries...ask children to which country concrete music related. You can also involve pictures with symbols or physical movements/dance in this game. Age of children: 4+ 22
Materials and equipment: music, pictures of associations Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week, 15 minutes 33. “What do we hear?â€?- game based on music and associations Listen to the music of different countries...after identifying country to which music is related to, ask children to identify the sounds and music instruments involved, or voices, and start discussion on what can be typical for particular country and culture, why they use particular instrument, what sound the composer wanted to achieve, what feelings music evokes, etc. Age of children: 4+ Materials and equipment: music, pictures of associations, ‌ Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week, 15 minutes 34. Games based on Parallel associations - stories These types of games represent stories including minimum of two interconnected associations. The ability to create this type of story in mind requires longer training but significantly supports the development of functional thinking of children. Stories with parallel associations are created by imagining a word to which we can associate at least two different associations. We write down all the associations we invent on paper and then we create a simple story for them. Example: 1) The man went to the river, but suddenly he turned back and went to the market to buy the nastiest apples they had on the market. Why did he do that? The answer: He went fishing and needed the worms from the apples for the fish 23
Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: coloured pens and papers Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depends on the size of the group 35. Games based on Parallel associations - questions Creating a question based on parallel associations. Similarly to creating stories, questions using parallel associations are created by imagining a word to which we can associate at least two different associations. We write down all the associations we invent on paper and then we create a simple question for them. Example: What does shoe lace, gold and watch have in common? The answer: the winner Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: coloured pens and papers Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depends on the size of the group More examples of Games based on Parallel associations – questions: SK Čo spája šnúrku, zlato a hodiny? (Alebo „čo má spoločné šnúrka, zlato a hodiny?“) Odpoveď: Víťaz What does shoe lace, gold and watch have in common? The answer: the winner (all the associative words included in a drawing below)
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What does new born baby, moustache and dress have in common? The answer: scissors CZ Co mají společné novorozenec, vousy a šaty? Odpověď: nužky (all the associative words included in a drawing below)
What does beard, see and glass have in common? The answer: beer Let children guess. You might want to use pictures as illustrations. SI Brada, morje, steklo = pivo
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SI Peter Pan, sonce, okno = oÄ?ala
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t of n e m p o l e v e d Phase III king functional thin The third phase is characterized by activities that encourage the development of functional thinking. The main techniques we use are associative questions, lateral thinking questions (such as enigmatic question), problem-solving questions and circular associations. Examples of activities: 36. “What connects… with…”? – game based on associative questions Associative questions are aimed at developing associative thinking and functional knowledge. Properly created question motivates a child to think and connect information from many different areas in order to solve the question. The first step when creating an associative question is brainstorming. Pick a word, and list all words that can be associated with the word we picked. When we have at least ten associations, we pick two and connect them into a question: „What is the connection between association1 and association 2?“ For example: Word: Apple Associations: sour, red, green, Adam, Eve, New York, pie, Snow White, seed Question: „ What connects Adam and Snow White? “ Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: pens, associations, Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week, 30 minutes 27
37. More examples of Associative questions: Association: King • Who wears a crown on his head and not in his pocket? • What does the crown and the power have in common? • What connects gold and the crown? Association: Grain • What connects a miller and bread? • What connects bread and straw? Association: Gold • What do oil and jewelry have in common? • What do tooth and jewel have in common? Association: Wood • What connects violin and tree? • What do winter, forest and fire have in common? Association: Italy • What connects boots and pizza? • What do Spaghetti and Bocceli have in common?
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Association: Horse • What connects chess and hay? • What connects the violin and the tail? 38. What connects.... Ask children to guess... • • • • • • • • •
What connects the deepest lake in the world with grandmothers? Russia. What links the clock and chocolate? Switzerland. What connects the shoe and the soup? Bucket. What connects windmills and tulips? Netherlands. What connects the boot and the pizza? Italy. What connects a horse and happiness? Horseshoe. What connects crayfish and masters? Pliers. What links football and spiders? Network. What connects sea and light? Waves.
SRB • • • • • •
Šta povezuje najdublje jezero na svetu i babuške? Rusija. Šta povezuje sat i čokoladu? Švajcarska. Šta povezuje cipelu i supu? Kašika. Šta povezuje vetrenjače i lale? Holandija. Šta povezuje čizmu i picu? Italija. Šta povezuje konja i sreću? Potkovica.
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Šta povezuje raka i majstora? Klešta. Šta povezuje fudbal i pauka? Mreža. Šta povezuje more i svetlo? Talasi. Šta povezuje maskembal i kupanje? Kostim
Age of children: 5+ Materials and equipment: illustrative pictures might be used Recommended frequency and length of play: 15 - 20 minutes 39. “What is it?” – game based on enigmatic questions Enigmatic questions are based on information that a child might or might not know but are asked in such a way that a child must give a lot of thought to the question before solving it. For example: What follows you on a sunny day? A shadow Age of children: 8+ Materials and equipment: colour pens, papers Recommended frequency and length of play: 45 minutes, depends on the size of a group More examples of enigmatic questions:
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SK • • • • • • • •
Čo má štyri rohy, štyri nohy a žiaden chvost? (stôl) Keď to vyhodíš je to zelené, keď to spadne je to červené? (melón) Najprv to má štyri nohy, potom dve a nakoniec tri. (človek) Ktoré dve oči zaženú smäd, ak jedno je červené a druhé modré? (vodovodná batéria) Kto stavia mosty bez dreva a klincov? (mráz) Ktorá maliarka maluje obrazy bez štetca a farieb? (paní zima) Ktoré sklíčka spravia noc? (slnečné okuliare) Kto nevie variť a nosí hrniec? (snehuliak)
CZ • • • • • • • • • •
Okruh, kde jedna ruka pronásleduje druhou. (hodiny) Krmím se sluncem a vodou, ale neuteču. (květina) Čtyři rohy mám, ale o můj roh si bouli neuděláš. (polštář) Mám listy, které nikdy neopadají a hřbet, který mě nikdy nebolí. (kniha) Co spojuje uši a nos, a neslouží ani čichu ani sluchu. (brýle) Dvojčata, která musí být stále spolu, ale každý potřebuje svou mašličku. (tenisky) Koho nemá Tom rád? (myš) Nemám nohy, mám sílu koní a dostanu tě, kam budeš chtít. (auto) Mám korunu, ale nejde se mnou zaplatit. (strom) Stopu za sebou nechávám, ale hýbat se můžu jen, když mě držíš. (pastelka)
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Má jenom jedno ucho a nechodí se s ním tak dlouho až se utrhne. (hrnek) Krabice, do které schovám celý svět i s myšlenkami. (notebook) Když praskne, tak sněží, ale nemrzne. (polštář)
SI • • • • • • •
Kam lahko shranimo denar, če ne zaupamo banki? (nogavica) Skozi kaj gledamo? (očala) Kaj imata skupnega zajec in vrt? (korenček) Kdo slabo vidi, a ne rabi očal? (krt) Kaj ima zobe, pa ne je? (glavnik) Kaj ima popek, pa ni roža? (trebuh) Kaj vleče črto, a ni svinčnik? (letalo)
SRB • Čime mama čisti kuću, a neko iz bajke to koristi kao prevozno sredstvo? Metla. • Šta te prati po sunčanom danu? Senka. • Šta se koristi u školu, a ima ga i u moru? Sunđer. • Igla do igle, a ne zna da šije? Jež. • Od nje mnogo naučiš, a nikad joj ne čuješ glas? Knjiga. • Šta je to, ima ga bicikl, ali i ulazna vrata? Zvono.
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40. “What is it?” – game based on hidden word questions Hidden word questions are aimed to develop associative thinking, abstract classification and seriation. Hidden word questions or sentences should be created so that the answer to the question is the hidden word itself. When solving the question, one must not have it written down, but solve it mentally. For example: • What kind of the famous construction toy is hiding a part of body? LEGO -> Leg • Who is not able to move their legs? Table These types of question that require no further explanation (because the question itself points to the direction of the answer) represent a higher level of the game. If we need a second sentence to additionally explain what we are looking for, it is the preparatory level of the game. As it is with most NTC techniques, the process of search for a hidden word is more important than the moment the word is found. In the English language this game can be played in two different ways. A hidden word can be either phonetically correct (”Look how small it is, but we can live in it.” House) or spelled correctly (”Where do you go?” Red), and rarely both. Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: papers, pens Recommended frequency and length of play: 2 times per week, 20 minutes Examples of hidden word questions: SK 33
Ktorý štát Európy skrýva riečného živočícha? Keď prekročíš hranicu, stretneš kôrovca. = RAKÚSKO Vnútri ktorej krajiny sa nachádza žltomodrý kúsok neba? = UKRAJINA Aká značka nákladných áut sa ukrýva v Nemecku? = GERMANY V ktorom meste Južnej Ameriky je skrytá časť tváre? = BUENOS AIRES CZ V kterém názvu státu má myš nejoblíbenější jídlo? = SÝRIE V kterém názvu státu zvíře couvá pozadu? = RAKOUSKO V kterém názvu státu najdeš vadu zubu? = KAZACHSTÁN V kterém názvu státu najdeš způsob obstarávání potravy v pravěku? = SLOVENSKO Který stát v sobě skrývá 12 měsíců najednou? = MAROKO SI Katera država skriva dedni material? = ARGENTINA Katera Afriška država skrivja to, kak brani Jan Oblak? = ANGOLA Katera država večnega ledu ima v svojem imenu rastlino, ki tam ne uspeva? = GRENLANDIA Katera država je sestavljena iz živali in države? = KITAJSKA V kateri državi ne nosijo copat? =BOSNA SRB Šta to sa tornja zvoni? = SAT Koji slavan kralj ne nosi krunu? = LAV Ko zbog blaga na mapi ratove vodi? = PIRAT Ko oko sveta redovno ide? = VETAR 34
Gde žive foke, a ne žive somovi? = 0KEAN Koja ocena Petra najviše obraduje? = PET Ko njivu ore? = KONJ Na šta je naišao finski jelen u snegu? = SKIJE Ko za jare brine? = KOZA Ko oštra klešta ima? = RAK 41. Games based on rhymes in pictures/associations This technique is used so that children can memorize a rhyme or a poem with ease. Primary function of this technique is to encourage divergent production and associative thinking, as well as fine motor skills required for drawings (much needed skill in numerous NTC techniques). When working with older children, this technique is also used for the representation of lessons and definition. Implementation principle is the same. The first step towards creating a good pictographic presentation is to come up with good associations for all the words we think are important for the text we are representing. The second step is to meaningfully connect these associations so that we create a story out of these pictures, such as comics. Age of children: 6+ Materials and equipment: papers, color pencils, short poems or songs Recommended frequency and length of play: once a week, 45min SK
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CZ
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SI
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SRB
42. Games based on NTC codes, level I NTC codes is a game with an aim of developing thinking and combinatorics in children. The game is played so: children are presented with few (usually three) words of specific category (clothes, animals, exotic plants‌) and a code. They should use the code in order to find a new word of the same category based on the given words. Words and codes must not be written down, but handled mentally. For example: CODE: 1, 2, 1 Given words DOLPHIN MONKEY = Answer is a word DOG GIRAFFE Age of children: 8+ Materials and equipment: pens, papers Recommended frequency and length of play: two times per week, 30min Examples of NTC codes, level I.
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SK Šifra: 2 - 4 - 3 Opasok Košela = PES Kostol Šifra: 4 - 3 - 1 Koruna Pošta = UŠI Ihla Šifra: 2 - 1 - 3 Pero Metla = EMU Stuha CZ sokol opice sysel SI kolovrat karamela karate
-> šifra 3 - 1 - 3 = kos
code: 5 - 3 - 5 = VRT
pesa korenje code: 1 - 2 - 4 = POR paprika SRB radost lako code: 4 – 3 – 2 = OKO most noc ponoć code: 1 – 4 – 4 = NOS vlast
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43. Games based on NTC codes, level II Higher level of NTC codes is based on the same principle as the Level I, but with increased difficulty. The given words are not the words needed to solve the code. They are only associated with the words we need, in a particular way. Therefore, the first step is to find the searched words with the help of given words (by following particular association logic, such as opposite words). The code is then applied on these new words. For example: CODE: 3, 2, 4 Given words Searched words: EMPTY -> FULL HOT -> COLD = Answer is a word LOW QUICK -> SLOW Age of children: 8+ Materials and equipment: pen and papers Recommended frequency and length of play: two times per week, 30 minutes Examples of NTC codes, level II. SK OPOZITĂ
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• Šifra: 1 - 2 – 1, slová: Biela, Noc, Plné Biela = Čierna Noc = Deň Riešenie: ČEP Plné = Prázdne • Šifra: 1 - 2 – 1, slová: Prázdny, Noc, Horúci Prázdny = Plný Noc = Deň Riešenie: PES Horúci = Studený • Šifra: 2 - 1 – 1, slová: Dolu, Záporný, Zatvor Dolu = Hore Záporný = Kladný Riešenie: OKO Zatvor = Otvor CZ nov - úplněk bohatý - chudý -> šifra 3 - 2 - 4 = luk malý - velký dlouhý - krátký -> šifra 1 - 2 - 3 = kat
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syrový - vařený -> šifra 4 - 3 - 5 = tři živí – mrtví -> šifra 5 - 2 - 1 = kam SI mokro -> suho mrzlo -> vroče šibak -> močan
code: 1 - 3 - 1 = SOM
vesel -> žalosten poln -> prazen code: 3 - 5 - 7 = LEV pisan -> enobarven SRB Crno – belo Malo – veliko code 1- 6 – 1 = BOS Mokro – suvo SAM brz – spor loš – dobar code: 1 – 4 – 1 = BOS mnogo - malo
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Sources: Dr. Ranko Rajović, Iva Rajović: Methodological handbook of the project, NTC FOR ALL, Fantao Cesta fantázie, o.z., 2019 Dr. Ranko Rajović: Jak úspěšně rozvíjet IQ dítětě hrou, Mensa ČR, 2018 Examples of activities developed on the NTC teachers trainings held within project NTC for ALL, All I really need to know I learned in a kindergarten, project no 2017-1-SK01-KA201-035382, supported by ERASMUS+. Trainings were held in Prague, Czech republic in August 2018 and Ljubljana, Slovenia, in May 2019.