Ideas for learning with Histominoes

 
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Simple

The easiest and simplest way to use Histominoes to learn history is to shuffle the pack, lay the cards face up, find the Start card and place it at the beginning. Now find the card that goes next using the illustrations to guide you. Work your way to the Finish by placing all the cards in the correct order.

What different patterns can you make whilst laying the cards out?

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Engaging

Play Histominoes like dominoes. Shuffle the cards and deal out 5-7 cards to each person. Place the remaining cards face-down into a pile or spread across the table. The person with the Start card goes first and places it down, the player to their left places the matching card down. If they don’t have the matching card, they pick one up from face-down pile, if it is the correct card to be played then they place it down immediately. Play continues with the next player to the left until all the cards have been placed down correctly from Start to Finish.

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Fun

Feel like testing your memory? Shuffle the cards and lay them face down. Start turning the cards over and replacing them until you find the Start card. When you’ve found it, place the Start card down face up. Now to find the next card. Repeat the process for finding the Start card until you find the next card in play. Did you find it before the Start card was found? Can you remember where the cards are?

Test your memory

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Involve the entire class

How about involving your entire class? Shuffle the pack and give every child a card. There are 35 cards in every pack so you may have some spare, that’s OK. You could choose which cards to keep out if you wanted; maybe the Start and Finish cards and an odd one here and there. Now there are a couple of options…

  1. The children find their partner card and form a line of children holding their cards in the correct order.

  2. You begin to lay the cards down with the Start card. You read the card out loud or ask the child to read the card aloud to the rest of the class. The child who has the next card then places their card down and reads it aloud for the class. Repeat the process until all the cards have been played from Start to Finish.

Histominoes are great for…

  • small 1-2-1 catch up

  • SEN lessons

  • as a reinforcement exercise

  • to introduce children to the subject

  • for independent learning

  • a plenary activity

  • just for fun