Watch

Rory wants his friends to play with him and invents a complicated ball game while trying to stay out of trouble. He tries to combine multiple games to keep everyone interested.

Reflect

After watching the clip, reflect on some of these questions:

• Does a creative idea have to be completely new?
• Which parts of Rory’s game work well together?
• Does adding more ideas always make a game better?
• How could Rory find out what needs changing?

Explore

Generate

Combining familiar ideas can help us create something new. Testing helps us discover whether it works. Your challenge is to combine two games you already know, or invent a new game of your own.

Your game should be easy to understand, inclusive and enjoyable.

In a group of four, invent a short game using a ball. Share several ideas with your group before choosing one to develop.

Create a game sheet for your group’s idea and write down:

• The name of your game and explain the goal.
• Draw how to set it up
• Write up to five rules, including how the game starts, finishes and is scored.

Create

Test, improve and play again

Pair up with another group.

1. Test both versions.
Give the other group your game sheet. Let them play for five minutes while you observe. Then swap roles and test their game.

2. Compare the results.
Ask your testers:

• Which instructions were unclear?
• Did everyone get regular opportunities to participate?
• How could the game be improved?

3. Improve your game.
Make one improvement and update your game card.

4. Test the improvement.
Let the other group play for five minutes again. Did your change help?

Finish independently:

“We improved … because …”

Watch

Watch ‘The Lost and Found Box’. While helping Debra-Jo search for her glasses, the children discover many of their own missing belongings in the overflowing lost-property box.

Reflect

After watching the clip, reflect on some of these questions:

• What makes finding belongings difficult?
• Why might items stay in the box for so long?
• What could help students recognise and collect their things?

Explore

A system is an organised way of doing something. A lost-property system needs to explain what happens from the moment an item is found until it reaches its owner.

Your challenge is to design a system that helps students get their belongings back.

In a small group, brainstorm different ways to manage lost property. You might consider labelled sections, checking names, classroom collections or a regular display of unclaimed items.

Choose an idea to develop. Sketch a simple plan showing:

1. Finding: Where does someone take an item they find?

2. Organising: How are items stored and checked?

3. Returning: How does an item get back to the right person?

Include who would carry out each step. Keep your plans practical using resources already available at school.

Your system should be easy for students to understand, help belongings reach the correct owner and be manageable teachers.

Create

Test your system

Make three cards representing these lost belongings:

• A hat labelled with a student’s name and class.
• A jumper with no name.
• A drink bottle that looks identical to another student’s bottle.

Take turns acting as the finder, the person managing lost property and the owner. Move each card through the steps of your first plan, then repeat using your second plan.

For each test, ask:

• Is it clear what happens next?
• Can the item reach the correct owner?
• Where does the system get stuck?

Record one strength and one problem for your system.

Improve

Make an improvement to your system to address a problem you discovered. Draw your final system with numbered steps and labels, then test it again.

Share your design with your class and explain:

“Testing showed us …, so we changed …”

Optional extension: Make it real! As a class, vote on the most functional system created by classmates and present it to your Principal to improve your school’s current lost and found system.