Simple shapes game for children to learn critical thinking skills

Easy Threes: simple games with just 3 shapes and 3 layers

Stenciletto is a simple geometric shapes game for children to help develop critical thinking skills. It achieves this by carefully grading the puzzles into different levels. It works with children, teenagers, and adults – including people with learning disabilities.  

The easiest of the levels is Easy Threes. These games are specially for younger players, players who struggle with recognizing shapes, or players with cognitive impairments. There are eight simple games in Easy Threes, plus a free starter game. 

Stenciletto is for children aged five and above. As long as your child is familiar with shapes and comfortable with the idea of a stencil and layers they’ll certainly enjoy Easy Threes. It’s a fun and engaging way to stimulate their curiosity while developing a greater understanding of basic geometry, sequencing, and problem solving.  It’ll also introduce them to some important critical thinking skills. 

Stenciletto is Teacher Approved on Google Play, and is available with Educational discounts on the App Store. For parents wanting to use this shapes game for home education, there’s a single purchase called ‘Education Mode’ that enables all relevant content, plus it has additional parental controls that make it a safe environment for children. 

What’s in Easy Threes?

• Eight games with 15 puzzles using just three shapes and three layers.
• As your child progresses, more geometric shapes are added to keep developing new skills.
• There aren’t any composite shapes (where two or more shapes combine to make another shape)
• It is playable in any mode you own (with or without a timer)
• Animated smileys reward achievement and progress. These smiley characters  are appropriate for a younger age group.
• Helps children to start developing critical think skills
• All in all, it’s a  simple to learn shapes game to provide your child with many hours of quality learning, while being fun and engaging.

The rich language of geometric shapes

 Although it contains very little language, Stenciletto is a great way to get your child to talk about shapes and their properties. 

The language of geometry is exceptionally rich, and as your child progresses in their math education they’ll learn to become familiar with it. This simple shapes game provides a great opportunity for parents to help their kids develop understanding of the language of geometry.

While Stenciletto is a game they can play on their own, parents can improve the experience by playing it with them. This gives you the opportunity to use the language of geometry in a meaningful way as they play the game. A great way to do this is by asking them questions about what they are looking at, for example…

• Is this shape larger than / smaller than / same size as this one?
• How many sides does this shape have?
• How many corners does this shape have? 
• Do you know the name of this shape?  (triangle, square, circle, cross, octagon, cross etc.)
• Why wouldn’t this shape work?
• What’s wrong with using this shape?

Progression beyond Easy Threes

Easy Threes is all about becoming familiar with basic geometric shapes and learning to manipulate them to solve a problem. By the end of this level, your child will be comfortable with the task and ready to take on new challenges. 

A quick way to assess their progress is to try Seven Steps. This level is basically a summary of all the levels, so don’t expect them to get to the end. If they can get halfway through Seven Steps, they’re ready to explore the level called Four & More. As its name suggests, this level starts with games containing 4 geometric shapes and gradually moves up to games containing 7 geometric shapes. It also contains composite shapes, where two shapes of the same color combine to make a new shape. 

Older children and teenagers who can complete Seven Steps and Four & More can attempt the most difficult games which are to be found in Challenge level. This starts where Four & More ends, with games containing 7 geometric shapes and gradually moves up to games containing 9 geometric shapes. Composite shapes made of three shapes of the same color are included. 

Finally, for gifted and talented children who require extension activities, there are World Games. These are advanced games containing up to 9 shapes where the geometric shapes are totally new. This challenges your child to apply their learning to new situations. 

The importance of Critical Thinking Skills

Improving knowledge and understanding of geometry is a core fundamental of Stenciletto. However, at the heart of this shapes game is the development of critical thinking skills. These skills are very hard to teach, yet children are expected to learn and practise them regularly. If you play the game yourself, you’ll experience the amount of critical thinking skills that are involved in solving the task. 

Here are some of the essential critical thinking skills that you’ll find in Stenciletto…

• Understanding the problem to be solved
• Identification and classification of geometric shapes
• Comparison of similar geometric shapes (size, orientation)
• Testing solutions to the problem
• Analyzing and correcting mistakes
• Logical reasoning – it’s not A, therefore it must be B
• Discovering strategies to improve performance
• Learning not to be impulsive

What’s your childs learning style?

Stenciletto has different modes of play. The easiest mode is called Mindful. In this mode, there is no timer, so your child can take as long as they like to complete the puzzles. They also have free help and can complete puzzles in any order.  This mode enables them to explore the shapes game using a trial-and-error methodology, which can be helpful while learning.

However, trial-and-error is not a great strategy for problem solving, and teachers don’t consider it a critical thinking skill. Playing against a timer encourages them to think before they tap and helps reduce impulsivity. Both Mortal and Immortal modes use a timer. 

Each mode of play keeps its own record of progress and achievement. This enables children to explore the different modes to discover which is best for their style of learning. 

Where did the game come from?

Stenciletto is an evolution of an IQ test developed in the early 20th century by a pioneering psychologist, Grace Arthur Ph.D. She had the task of measuring the intelligence of Native American and deaf children who hadn’t attended school. The IQ tests in uses at the time were mostly verbal and aimed at educated Americans. She realized that there are different types of intelligence, many of which are non-verbal. She created this game as an IQ test, and proved that the intelligence of the non-educated children was equivalent to that of their educated counterparts. 

Stenciletto is designed by a classroom teacher with over 30 years experience of working with children and teenagers. This includes people with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.  

You can read more about this story here:

Stencil Design Test by Grace Arthur Ph.D.

   

 

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