Ivan and Victor experience the texture of paper slurry. We shredded paper scraps of a variety of colors and textures to create new paper.

Julian is showing the part of the process that uses a wooden frame to strain out excess water and shape the pulp into a rectangle.

Through this project, we learned about absorption and evaporation.

The Games We Play

We have chosen the games we play at Talking Stick for their developmental value. We look for games that are conducive to logical and deductive reasoning, strategy, visual acuity, creative thinking, and more.

Guess Who

A wonderful blend of deduction with a form of 20 Questions. Two players try to deduce the identity of their opponent's "Mystery Person." Using game boards with 48 frames apiece and an equal number of cards displaying character faces, players ask one another yes or no questions that help narrow the pool of possibilities. Through process of elimination, the identity of the Mystery Person slowly becomes evident. As kids' skill levels grow, their questions become more strategic, allowing them to solve the mystery faster and faster. The faces on the cards are cheerful and designed to give subgroups among the 48 characters just enough similarities to challenge players.

Master Mind

Test your code-cracking prowess with Mastermind, "the challenging game of logic and deduction." One player becomes the codemaker, the other the codebreaker. The codemaker chooses a pattern of four code pegs. The chosen pattern is placed in the four holes covered by the shield, visible to the codemaker but not to the codebreaker.

The codebreaker tries to guess the pattern. Each guess is made by placing a row of code pegs on the decoding board. Once placed, the codemaker provides feedback by placing from zero to four key pegs in the small holes of the row with the guess. A colored (often black) key peg is placed for each code peg from the guess which is correct in both color and position. A white peg indicates the existence of a correct color peg placed in the wrong position.

Once feedback is provided, another guess is made; guesses and feedback continue to alternate until either the codebreaker deduces correctly, or twelve (or ten, or eight) incorrect guesses are made.

Chess

This classic game involves thinking strategically and foreseeing consequences. It's about lines and angles, weighing options and making decisions. Chess is one big science experiment; every time you play a game you are testing hypotheses and learning by trial and error. You begin to see the importance of thinking ahead, trying to figure out what your opponent might do next and what their alternatives are too. Reasoning, memory, and critical thinking skills have been shown to develop through chess.

Mancala

The object of mancala games is to capture more stones than the opponent. In a process known as sowing, all the stones from a hole are dropped one-by-one into subsequent holes in a motion wrapping around the board. Typically, a capture requires landing in an empty hole adjacent to an opponent’s hole that contains one or more pieces. Mancala games teach to players to think analytically, since they must learn to plan and develop strategies. To be successful one has to foresee what will happen several moves in advance. Mancala games also help with mathematical thinking since one has to keep track of the number of stones in each hole.

I hope you enjoy reading about these games as much as we enjoy playing them. I think that games are important learning opportunities and help develop social skills as well. In terms of competition, our group handles it very well. They take winning and losing both with quiet dignity.