Smart Kids Programme

Patterns

Patterns are things that repeat in a logical way, like stripes on a jumper. They can be numbers, images, shapes or colours. Pattern activities help pupils to develop their observation skills. Pupils look at a pattern in an activity and predict what will come next. Learning to recognise patterns is a basic maths skill that helps pupils to develop more advanced maths concepts later on.

Logic Problems

Logic problems are puzzles which require children to look at different pieces of information in order to arrive at an answer. Pupils learn to use their deductive reasoning skills which encourages them to think for themselves, experiment and question things. It is an essential problemsolving skill. Many types of logic problems contain all of the answers. You just have to figure them out.

Classifying and Sorting Activities

Classifying and sorting are important skills for both maths and science. Sorting and grouping things together is an essential cognitive skill. Pupils learn to notice similarities and differences and they learn to catagorise. These activities also encourage them to notice details and to become more observant.

Analogy Activities

An analogy is a comparison between two things that are usually thought to be different, for example a TV and a computer. Pupils are encouraged to come up with similarities. These activities are a great way to improve pupils’ vocabulary. They also help pupils to focus on an object and to come to a greater understanding of it.

Situational Analysis

Pupils learn to analyse a situation. They look at the strengths and weaknesses of a plan or idea, and they evaluate the risks and the opportunities.

Word Search Puzzles

Word search puzzles are a great way to develop word recognition and build and review vocabulary, as well as improving pupils’ spelling. They also help to improve memory, focus and concentration and teach patience and persistence.

Storytelling

Storytelling is a fun and creative way to help children develop their communication skills and improve their confidence speaking in front of an audience.

What if...?

What if...? is a question designed to make children think and imagine the endless possibilities. For example: What if clouds could talk? What would they tell us? These activities are excellent for developing discussion skills as children will come up with a wide range of imaginative answers to these questions. They will have lots of fun too, and remember no

Brainstorming

Brainstorming encourages children to take an active role in the learning process. It encourages independent thinking and creative problem solving. Pupils are given an interesting stimulus or a prompt in the form of a question or a statement, and they are encouraged to come up with lots of different ideas and to share them with their classmates. The goal is not to find the perfect answer but to come up with lots of ideas or answers to a problem. As there are no wrong ideas, pupils feel more confident to share their ideas and take part.

Drawing

Through drawing, children learn to freely express their thoughts and ideas. Drawing also develops their fine-motor skills. They learn to express their feelings and to focus on details, and they also learn to concentrate. In these drawing activities, pupils need to focus on shapes and lines and add details in order to draw a complete picture. It is focus and concentration that leads to academic success.

Playing Games

Playing games improves memory and cognitive skills. It develops logic and reasoning, improves critical thinking, and improves verbal and communication skills. It increases attention span and concentration. It teaches problem-solving and develops confidence. It also develops social skills as children learn to take turns and work as part of a team. They learn to communicate ideas, solve problems, make decisions and follow rules.

Designing and Inventing

In these activities, pupils are encouraged to be creative and to use their imaginations to come up with unique and innovative ideas which they can share with friends.

Designing and building models helps pupils develop many skills, such as: teamwork, communication and language skills, through expressing their ideas and listening to the thoughts of others. Whilst building, they learn how to problem solve and come up with new ideas. By following instructions, working out the order in which to place building materials, and understanding quantity, symmetry, patterns and location of the building materials, children develop their mathematical and engineering skills and their spatial awareness. They also learn to persevere and to be patient and manage their frustrations when things go wrong. It builds their self-confidence as they get a sense of achievement when they see the result of all their hard work.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the process of analysing information using logic, reasoning and creativity, in order to understand things and come to conclusions. There are many such activities in the Creativity series.

Secret Codes

Devising secret codes is a fun way to sharpen their analytical and thinking abilities. Cracking codes and discovering the meaning of secret messages involves lots of maths. In fact, some of the most famous code breakers in history were mathematicians.

Sequencing

Sequencing is the process of arranging events in the order that they occur. It helps children to understand events in their lives and it also helps them improve their writing skills.

Visual Completion

Visual completion is a visual perceptual skill that allows you to know what a geometric shape, object or word is, even when you can only see part of it. For example, if your shoe is sticking out from under a chair you recognize it is your shoe, or if you can only see half the letters on the page, you can still recognize the letters.

Three Dimensional Thinking Activities

Pupils must imagine or visualise flat shapes as three dimensional shapes. Grasping the skill of thinking in 3D makes children better at all science subjects, art and crafts, map reading and design, and altogether better thinkers in daily life.

Tangrams

Tangrams are great for learning geometry and pattern recognition. They give pupils an understanding of geometrical shapes and how they can be decomposed. They also help them develop special rotation skills.

Finding Hidden Objects

Pupils scan pictures to find hidden items or locate unusual images and store those pictures in their minds. These hidden picture puzzles are absorbing so children spend more time on them. This increases their concentration skills and determination, and it also improves their attention to detail.

Figure Ground Separation Activities

Figure ground separation is the skill that allows you to see and find certain people, objects or shapes in a busy background. Children who have difficulty in this area will have a hard time concentrating if there is too much content on a page, or if their environment is over-stimulating. A child with poor figure-ground perception will struggle to find personal items, for example: socks, notebooks etc in a cluttered space. They will find map work difficult, lose their place when copying work from the whiteboard, or lose their place while reading. Figure ground separation activities are a fun way to improve these skills.