When my daughter asked me to play a game with her ("the show" game) it was my chance to ask her why should I play this game with her. But again, she looked at me really strange. :-) She is often used with responds like "ok", "in a few minutes", "ask dad because I have to cook" and so on...

I asked her again. Give me some reasons why I should play with you this game. The word "reason" really gave her trouble. She asked her dad "What does she mean by reason?" (I guess she wanted to ask "What's wrong with mommy?!" I encouraged her to try.

Reasons:

1. Because I like it!

2. Because it is a nice game.

3. Because it is ridiculous.

I insisted to gave me one more reason why it should be interested to me.

She said that it is funny. It makes us laugh.

But she change her mind quickly because she said she is tired! :-)

I asked her, while we were sitting on the sofa if she wants to play a new game. So, we played "what toy I am thinking about". All the toys were at their places, on the bags and so on... So it was a little difficult to think of a toy that you I not see and then to describe it. I wrote down all of the questions. It was strange doing that while we played but she didn't noticed. She was into this game!

I was the first one thinking of a toy  and she asked me 5 questions:

1. It is yellow? Yes

    It has something on his head? No

    Does it have ear? Yes

    Tail? No

She is in a hurry to guess... And she guess because she have a doll which is yellow... :-) The doll named Seli.

Her turn to think of a toy.

2. (My questions) It is an animal? Yes

   It makes noise? Yes

   It has more then one color? Yes

   It is soft? Yes

   It is an domestic animal? She said No

No chance to other questions. And I had no idea. It was Santa's reindeer

My turn to think, her turn to ask:

3. It sings? No

    It has ear? Yes

    Tail ? No (she repets questions with ears and tail) :-)

    It speaks? Yes

    It's an animal? No

It surprised me because she guessed! It was her baby doll named Agatha!

Her turn to think of a toy, my turn to ask questions:

4. It is noisy? No

    It is a doll? Yes

    It is a "Barbie" doll? Yes (she wanted the name of one of her "Barbie" dolls.

    It was a present from Santa? No

    It is blonde? Yes

I had again no idea. So wins again. She is really happy. It was the "Barbie" doll named Alesia, a present from her aunt.

My turn again to think. She asks:

5. Does it has ear? (again ears :-)) Yes

    It is a domestic animal? Yes

    It is a doll (she is not paying attention anymore...) No

    It is fluffy? Yes

    It has a part which is tough? Yes

She guess again. The pink bunny named Stefi.

She thinks of a toy, I ask:

6. It is a surprise toy from the sweets? No

    It is a doll? No

    It is made from bears? Yes

    It is bigger than Seli (the doll)? No

    It eats meat? Yes

No idea, again... It was about Garfield, the cat.

That was it! She wanted to play next "the show" game... So, we played. :-)

 

 

 

04 Jul 2013, 07:05
 
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Thank you for your indications. I will use them. :-)
Simona, so clever of you to put down how the game developed! My congratulations at being sooo handy!:)
It sounds like your daughter enjoys the game and this is very important. What is interesting is that she has always been winning. So the task was not so much challenging any more. So, since the child is motivated and clear about the procedure you can probably slightly complicate the task to add more thinking into the game. For instance, reduce the number of questions she can ask or add more objects among which to guess. The point is to help the child notice more important and non obvious features of objects.
Another point which you can do at the end of the game is to evaluate those questions which were asked together with your daughter. Some of the questions were probably 'better' (they eliminated more options and led quicker to the result). So you can ask your child to explain her reason behind asking this or that question. I guess she will look at you suspiciously as always but I am sure it will pass in a while:)
Simona, many thanks for giving such a detailed account. It's really very useful as we can imagine you both playing the game.

I think it's very positive that your daughter was interested in continuing the game. I imagine her winning was contributed to this. At PASS Phase 0 our main aim is to establish a certain tradition and I think you're really succeeding here.

One might say that it's necessary to demonstrate the key principle for asking such questions to our children, ie the rule of splitting the into halves (see the description of Yes-No tasks in Phase 1 cards and also this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHa6qQg3TNE). However, this is more about the next stage, so I would say you are doing fine.

What you might try to do as the next step is to limit the number of toys (eg put 6 of them on the sofa / table) and introduce the competition among the players (remember that both you and your daughter can be playing for some toys when competing). The competition will create a good context for the discussion of why someone won, why he/she asked better questions.