A gorgeous book that I thought the children would enjoy but was unsure how I might use it in the classroom. I decided that it could be a great story to introduce my younger students to deBono’s Thinking Hats. Listen to Kerry Gittins and myself chat about the book on our podcast.
Thinking Hats
To start this activity I took students through a ‘Pondering’ task to encourage careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. As a whole class, the students observed the image from the book where the horse was in the kitchen. Students posed ‘questions’ about the image but no-one answered the questions, students simply ‘pondered’ – taking time to think deeply. A question that arose with each Year 1 class was ‘Why isn’t the dad worried about the horse in the kitchen?’ They were fascinated by his calmness.
Following the pondering we listed all the different animals we could be and discussed what it would be like to be the animal with a focus on 3 key areas:
Yellow Hat: What would be good about being that animal?
Black Hat: What might be a problem, living as that animal?
Red Hat: How might you feel, living as that animal?
Students completed the worksheet listing 3 ideas in each column. Using the video option inside Microsoft Teams, students recorded a video retelling the facts from their worksheet.
Read more about De Bono’s Thinking Hats HERE.
