Which One Doesn’t Belong
Math Concepts
Properties of objects
Materials
Random objects, magazine clippings
Players
Whole group
Set up
Prepare these in advance. You can make lists of ideas, or you can make a deck of cards with images or descriptions of four things. For this variation,
Play
the class works together to discover the answers. This activity uses a set of four items, or drawings, where one of the four is the odd one out. Accept any reason for selecting an item as the odd one out as long as that reason has a good explanation.
Example
In this example, each one of these is different from the remaining three in some way. There isn’t always more than one good answer, but you should always be open to surprising ideas.
Goal
Have fun identifying and describing properties of objects.
Goal
Have fun identifying and describing properties of objects.
Discussion and Tips
Identifying properties of objects, and discussing similarities and differences, is central to mathematics. These activities ask students to find ways in which two or more objects are the same or different.
There is a lot of material on this under the hashtag: #WODB.
Variations
Here are a few more examples:
- rabbit, dog, butterfly, pillow
- banana,cheese, hammer, carrot
- cheese,shoes, coat, shirt
- dog,cat,lion, goldfish
- rosebush,oak, maple, pine
- bench,table, couch, stool
- bark,honk,rainbow, click
- socks,pants, toothbrush, hat
- chair, umbrella, sofa, stool
- ants,pigs, spiders, grasshoppers
You can also do this with pictures instead of words.