Building Analogies

Video Summary

The great cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter explained that "analogy is the core of cognition." This activity turns analogies into fun, tactile puzzles, building a strong core for your child's thinking.

Also see: Metaphors and Similes

Video Transcript: In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use TB to teach your children about analogies. Label four tiles with HAND, FOOT, GLOVE and SHOE.  Ask your child, “how are these things related?”  Encourage them to think of as many relationships as they can. Select HAND and GLOVE.  Now ask “what’s the relationship?”  They’ll probably say something like “HAND-fits in-GLOVE.”  Place the tiles on ThinkBlocks to form this sentence. Now ask “If HAND-fits in-GLOVE, how are FOOT and SHOE related?”  They should say “FOOT-fits in-SHOE.” Place a TB labeled “AS” between these two relationships.  Ask “how are these things alike?”  Explain that they have just created the analogy “HAND-fits in-GLOVE-as-FOOT-fits in-SHOE,” and that all analogies have this is to-AS-is to structure. Let your child play with the analogy.  This hands-on play helps them understand the analogy as a real thing. Try building other analogies, or deconstructing analogies your child is familiar with. This activity turns analogies into fun, tactile puzzles, building a strong core for your child’s thinking.

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