Press Here

Have you read this book? Maybe “read” is not exactly the word here. Have you played this book yet? If not, go ahead and give it a try. The idea is simple – each page of the book tells you what to do, but doesn’t tell you why you are doing it or what to expect. You discover what has happened only after you flip the page.

This is not a math book. Yet there is a lot of fun math hidden in it. In just a few pages you play with iterative functions, several function machines and a fun pattern.

Even better, the book ends with an invitation to play it again, looping back to the first “press here” page.

This book gives a child a perfect opportunity to figure out patterns of action and to predict outcomes. “What do you think is going to happen now?” is a question that is ingrained into the book.

After going through it a few times, children might feel inspired to create their own books similar to “Press Here”. All it takes is a few sheets of paper, stickers and markers.

One thing I haven’t tried yet, but that sounds intriguing is to see what happens if you stop in the middle of the book and go back to beginning and repeat the instructions. For example, what if we stop on this page with a pattern and then go back to the beginning, follow the instructions and press yellow dots only. I think it would be a fun way to explore algorithms with nothing but a large piece of paper and a few Dot Dot markers (or regular markers or stickers).

httpv://youtu.be/Kj81KC-Gm64

Have you played this book? Share your ideas and experience with us!