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Theme Primer for Microschool (September 2025): Puzzles, Riddles, and Mind Games

Big Picture Ideas and Concepts

Our minds work like super-fast computers that are always looking for patterns. Sometimes our brain fills in missing pieces so quickly that we don't even notice! This can help us understand things faster, but it can also trick us into seeing or hearing things that aren't really there.

Related Concepts:

  • Pattern recognition evolved to help us understand the world quickly
  • Optical illusions happen when our brain is tricked by what we see
  • Stroop Effect: our brain can get confused when two messages fight each other
  • We can "see" complete pictures even when pieces are missing (like in mosaics)
  • Selective attention means we sometimes miss things right in front of us
  • Memory helps fill in gaps to make sense of incomplete information

Related Activities from Resource Bank:

Domains & Competencies:

  • Cognitive Development: Critical Thinking & Reasoning; Executive Function; Scientific Thinking; Mathematical Thinking
  • Approaches to Learning: Learning Strategies; Creative Thinking and Expression
  • Creative Arts & Expression: Visual Arts

There's often more than one way to solve a puzzle or answer a question. When we change how we look at something (our perspective), we might discover solutions we didn't see before. Different people might solve the same problem in completely different ways, and that's okay!

Related Concepts:

  • Changing perspective reveals new possibilities
  • There can be multiple right answers to the same question
  • Different strategies work for different people
  • Problems can be approached from various angles
  • Creative thinking means finding unexpected solutions

Related Activities from Resource Bank:

Domains & Competencies:

  • Cognitive Development: Critical Thinking & Reasoning; Mathematical Thinking; Scientific Thinking; Executive Function
  • Approaches to Learning: Creative Thinking and Expression; Collaborative Learning
  • Language & Communication: Writing Skills; Literacy Skills

When we have to work within certain rules (like only using specific letters or shapes), our brains become extra creative to solve the problem. Some of the most amazing art, stories, and inventions come from having to work within limits!

Related Concepts:

  • Constraints force us to think differently
  • Working within limits sparks innovation
  • Rules create structure for creative problem‑solving
  • Limitations help us focus on what's possible
  • Games have rules that make them fun and challenging

Related Activities from Resource Bank:

Domains & Competencies:

  • Language & Communication: Literacy Skills; Writing Skills; Language Awareness
  • Approaches to Learning: Creative Thinking and Expression; Learning Strategies
  • Cognitive Development: Critical Thinking & Reasoning; Executive Function

The natural world has amazing patterns that repeat and grow in special ways. From the spiral in a shell to how things float or sink in water, nature follows mathematical rules that scientists and artists have been discovering for thousands of years.

Related Concepts:

  • Spirals appear in shells, flowers, and galaxies (Fibonacci sequence)
  • Fractals are patterns that repeat at different sizes
  • The same shape can behave differently (sink or float)
  • Water displacement helps us measure things
  • Mathematical principles explain natural phenomena
  • Ancient discoveries still help us today

Related Activities from Resource Bank:

Domains & Competencies:

  • Cognitive Development: Mathematical Thinking; Scientific Thinking; Critical Thinking & Reasoning
  • Approaches to Learning: Learning Disposition & Mindset; Creative Thinking and Expression
  • Creative Arts & Expression: Visual Arts

Letters and words are like building blocks that we can take apart, rearrange, and put back together in new ways. Every language has patterns and codes that we can play with to create riddles, jokes, and new meanings.

Related Concepts:

  • Words can be broken down and rebuilt
  • Letters can be rearranged to make new words
  • Pictures can represent words (rebus puzzles)
  • Language has patterns we can recognize
  • The same word can have different meanings
  • Writing instructions is like creating a code for others to follow

Related Activities from Resource Bank:

Domains & Competencies:

  • Language & Communication: Literacy Skills; Writing Skills; Language Awareness; Oral Communication
  • Approaches to Learning: Collaborative Learning; Creative Thinking and Expression
  • Cognitive Development: Critical Thinking & Reasoning

Just like our bodies get stronger with exercise, our ability to notice things, remember information, and focus our attention gets better with practice. Brain games and puzzles are like gym workouts for our minds!

Related Concepts:

  • Attention can be trained to notice more details
  • Memory techniques help us remember better
  • Focus improves with practice
  • Different types of memory work in different ways
  • Observation skills can be developed
  • Brain exercises make our thinking stronger

Related Activities from Resource Bank:

Domains & Competencies:

  • Cognitive Development: Executive Function; Critical Thinking & Reasoning
  • Approaches to Learning: Learning Strategies; Learning Disposition & Mindset; Collaborative Learning; Play Development
  • Creative Arts & Expression: Dramatic Arts & Storytelling

Weekly Plans

  • Challenge of the day: Use these resources to set up challenges of the day
  • ITE Session 1: Try Exquisite Corpse (art version)
  • ITE Session 2 (history, language, creative expression): Explore how the puzzle of hieroglyphs was solved. Follow up challenge: Come up with your own message without using any letters or words. Were others able to understand?
  • Critical Literacy: Guided storytelling – ‘fracture/mix up/twist a tale’. Consider utilising ITE time for kids to watch the tales they would be fracturing during the session.

For extender, try telephone pictionary as it can be seen as a game where players ended up fracturing or twisting someone’s message without intending to. For older kids, It could be explored as an example of perspective‑taking and interpretation (Big Ideas 1 & 2).

Long-term Project opportunities

Thematic Resource Bank