Learning Advantage 2121 What Doesn't Belong?

Children go beyond simple matching as they find shared characteristics of items in each square on their game board. Each board has six squares with four items per square, one of the four items doesn’t belong; find the matching game card with the unlike item and cover the square. Be the first to cover all of your squares to win! Identifying an item that doesn't belong in a group is an important cognitive skill, which we use often. This activity, which appears to be simple, is actually complex, requiring several skills; comparison of the characteristics of different objects, identification of the shared characteristic that can be used for sorting and grouping the objects and differentiation of an object that differs in this respect from the others in the group. While playing this game, children encounter different subject areas and learn that objects can be grouped according to different dimensions. Thus, the item that doesn't belong is not absolute, but depends on the field of reference. For example, when you sort according to color, you need to ignore other characteristics of the items in the group, such as use, association and context. You can also play this game at earlier stages of development, before children understand the concept of belonging. The object that appears on the card is included in one of the groups of the board and the cards can be matched to the boards based on this alone. In this case, children practice the basic skill of identifying part of a whole or one of a group, which is an essential basis for identifying the object that doesn't belong. Make sure to name the pictures, in order to enrich the children's vocabulary. A table is included that lists the names of the pictures. Includes 4 Game Boards, 24 Game Cards. 2-4 players. Ages 2-5.