h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As some of you will know in RL I work with groups that work with children. We are just in the process of inventing a currency for children. This will be earned by kids who get involveed in positive activities or who improve the lives of others (in a wide variety of ways) and the currency can be exchanged with other children or saved up and cashed in for shop vouchers at a later date.

In order for the children to want to earn small quantities of the currency and to see it as valuable in its own right it will be in the form of collector cards. The first set is based on healthy eating and will give information about the goodness of the various fruits and vegetables we choose to picture on the cards. For example a picture of a banana would be accompanied by the word "Banana" and then there would be a breakdown of the vitamins, minerals, calories and roughage provided by 100g. As you can imagine a set of these cards can allow a game to be played where the various benefits of fruits and vegetables can be compared.

Initially children will be able to earn the cards by attending a series of training session on how to teach other children how to play fun games in the playground or the park. They will then be able to earn further cards by turning up in the park, in the early evening, and leading game sessions - with responsible adults in the vicinity.

On earning a sets worth of cards (30) the child can decide to cash them in for a £5 gift voucher, but I think that initially children will aim to get a full set which will involve much wheeler dealing and exchange in the playground and park - expecially as we will reserve certain cards for certain schools - so children will have to talk to one another in order to obtain a full set.

I would appreciate comments on this (other than don't do it!) and I need help in thinking what the next set of cards could be as these will have to be produced before the first set become too old hat.

The cards must have a theme and be educational. Hopefully not (too) gender biased. There should be at least 30 different elements (e.g. fruits or vegetables) the item in any picture must have about 6 features which can be compared with others so that some sort of comparison game can be played. The features to be compared should have a numerical element so that it is easy for young children to decide which is higher.

My appeal within Hootoo is that many hands make light work. If 30 people can find details on one card each the set is made at the drop of a hat.

Some lists of items for possible sets could include:

Famous writers from around the world
The facts and figures might include: Date of Birth, Date of Death, age at death, how many books/plays/poems, how many books printed, Age at first work being published (lower figure wins!) and so on.

British trees and plants
Exotic trees and plants
British animals and Birds
Exotic animals and Birds
Flags of the world
Festivals of the world

What I am trying to avoid is creating more work for me to do. I will have to collate all of the information, typeset the cards and get the printer to produce thousands of the things for distribution. If I can get my friends to help me create the sets, obtain the accurate information and find pictures of everything this project may work!

What do you think?

I will of course be involving children in this project and be putting the same queries to them.

Monarchs!... Always needed for history lessons!

ie.. the Tudor line or the Plantagenets

OK! Great idea - let's get going! I need 30 of them with a picture of each and 6 comparable facts. I'm not looking for things for me to research - I would do that away from hootoo. I'm looking to see if we could do this as a group and benefit the kids much more quickly!

Sport is always good- you could have an activity, like fencing or gymnastics, and you could write a little on the back of the card about it: where it originated, who is famous for it!

I actually like the idea of monarchs, but not just from a certain line but from all over - you could start with old ones, like David (http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/charlotte/0006/000633.JPG ), and go to current monarchs like King Juan Carlos (http://www.staugustine.com/images/040201/kingandqueen2LR.jpg) of Spain or queen Margrethe (http://www.denmarkemb.org/margr94.html) of Denmark. The facts can include date of birth, date of death, number of years on the throne, size of country, wars fought (the fewer the better?) and number of children, for instance.
How about it?

Thanks, everyone. This seems to be working? I am going to divert the specifics to a new thread. We need to remember that the children will be between 7 to 11 years old who will be involved so I don't want to make it to too academic.

I will start a new entry in the guide for each so that we can have a collaborative go at each.

Cool!

Keep me posted!

A2976906 this is the link for the monarchs game. Off we go!

Who should we do next

I'd be happy to research writers. You could also do one on plays. If they were twentieth century plays, you could include:

- Year first performed
- Age of playwright when they wrote it
- Number of performances on Broadway/New York
- Number of performances in London
- Year the play was filmed (if it was)
- some silly fact, like the number of times the word 'fish' is used in the play...

Or how about Shakespeare plays, as there are a good number of those:

- year written
- number of characters
- number of scenes
- number of times it has been filmed
- percentage of characters left alive at the end...

Sounds like a really excellent idea, which I hope the kids will embrace and enjoy.

David

I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't like dinosaurs, either!

You could put on the cards

-when they lived
-what they ate
-where they were found
-any special or interesting facts about them- T-rex has teeth the size of steak knives, some species had feathers, etc.

Better yet, why limit it to dinosaurs? Can we go for a smattering of fossils from trilobites to mammoths?

I knew you werre the right people to ask!
I like the plays idea, David. I will set up a similar guide entry to the monarchs one and allow people to fill it out.

Dinosaurs! Yes kids love them.
I was really struck by the filming of "Walking with Dinosaurs" and the new insights animators brought to the physical characteristics. Diplodocus had always been depicted in books as a high browser, taking leaves from tree tops because it was long necked. When the animators fed the data into the computer on bone shapes etc. they found that the dinoasaurs would not physically have been able to raise their heads far off the ground and the tails, rather than drooping to the ground stood straight out and balanced the weight of the heads!

I will also open a guide entry on dinosaurs and look forward to the entries!

well i think its a wonderful idea!
good for you vestie!

what about facts about countries? i have a card game here at home that has that. it asks questions like what is the capital city, and each card has a picture of a famous monument from that country, as well as the shape of th e country. annother question it asks is what is the monument on teh front of the card...
this game is for quizzing people but the answers to the questions it asks can be uesd as facts for the cards...

hope this is the kind of thing you're looking for..

That sounds good. We don't have to have the same game with each set. ONe could be a quiz as you suggest.
If I set up an entry on countries of the world would you be willing to give some of the questions?

sure i dont see why not. as long as you post the link to the entry here so that i can find it....

It's up! A2993871 is where to find it - I think.