Putting things together

I have had this jigsaw puzzley kind of game lying around in our games cupboard since I visited the UK last year - never opened it until today. I wanted to let my lovely Friday afternoon group explore it together, before we split up into two groups from next week.

With a lrage-ish group (six children) this kind of thing can get very grabby quickly, which I don't like... we try to encourage good behaviour in the school and a healthy respect for each other, so please and thank you go a long way. To do this we worked in two groups, looking for the letters to build words - most of which we know. This presented the problem of d/b/p/q all looking alike; the tabs on the pieces were the clue they needed to work out.

To prevent hoarding I asked them to work together on one picture at a time, and to help each other. This is something I always like to see in my class, as the children can teach each other so much more quickly and effectively than I can (if they listen!) - gossiping in this kind of activity is all task focused and therefore a good thing, with gentle direction.