Sorting

Kindergarten students argue about which beetles belong to the collectible family. The photographs of these beetles are from Dr. Udo Schmidt, a retired beetle collector in Germany. Thanks Udo!

A game to get your students talking about attributes. One player chooses a template and secretly chooses how to split the members of the group in two. Everyone else tries to guesses the rules governing the split.

Venn diagrams are not taught well anywhere.

With little effort, these diagrams can be brought to life with beauty and by going beyond that little 3 circle Venn diagram. At the very least a teacher should end a lesson on the three circle Venn diagram with a question: "I wonder if this is possible with four circles?"

But we can go much, much further... and the puzzle sheets created below are designed to get you there 😉

"Venn for Polygons" is a highly engaging puzzle that gives students ages 8+ practice with properties of polygons. All edges are the same length unless they are obviously different lengths. Thanks to student Calvin Chan for finding a shape that was a little wonky 😉

"Mishap at Venn Zoo" is a full presentation of a polyomino variant that includes rotational symmetry. This is good for students as young as 8 or 9.

"ToothPick Polygons" has got a tough second question, but the first part is as easy as "Mishap at Venn Zoo."

Categorize 9 games based on the answer to two questions:

1) Will Emperor Jiaqing win / tie / lose if he goes the first.

2) Will the Pirate, Ching Shih, win / tie / lose if she goes the first.

The games are all variants of the game “arrows.” This is a great logic puzzle and the combination with the overarching sorting question makes this activity a big winner.

Get the 9 printable game-sheets here.