Getting Started
Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?
 

The Not-So-Big Question

Does everything in our lives come from something? 

If yes, where does it all come from?

Have you ever played the game, Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? It’s a game where one person finds something he or she can see and then only tells the others if it's an animal, vegetable, or mineral. Other children in the game ask questions to see if they can guess what the one child has in his or her mind. Play the game with your class and then follow up and do the activity sheets below.

This might be harder than you think. Some things might be made of two of the three choices and some may be made from all three.  A pencil for instance, is at least two – vegetable and mineral. The wood is a vegetable because it comes from something that grows and the lead is a mineral that is mined.

 

Rules for Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral

One player is chosen to be the answerer. That person chooses an object in mind, but does not tell the other players what it is except for labeling it an animal, a vegetable, or a mineral. The game defines an animal as a member of the animal kingdom, a vegetable as a member of the plant kingdom, and a mineral as anything geological.

All other players are questioners. They each take turns asking a question of the answerer which can be answered with a simple Yes or No. The answerer answers each question in turn. Sample questions could be "Is it in this room?" or "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" Lying is not allowed, as it would ruin the game. If a questioner guesses the object, that questioner wins and becomes the answerer for the next round. If twenty questions are asked without a correct guess, then the answerer has stumped the questioners and gets to be the answerer for another round.

 

(Teachers: The following activity sheets are from some free teacher materials developed and published by the Mineral Information Institute in Denver, Colorado.  See the teacher links page for the internet address.)

 

Next step ...

Follow your teacher to dig deeper.

 

Digging Deeper   THINKING IT THROUGH MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL

 

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