Philosophy for Young Children: A Practical Guide

Co-written by a professor of philosophy and a practising primary school teacher, "Philosophy for Young Children" is a concise, practical guide for teachers. It contains detailed session plans for 36 philosophical enquiries--enough for a year's work--that have all been successfully tried, tested and enjoyed with young children from the age of three upwards. The enquiries explore a range of stimulating philosophical questions about fairness, the environment, friendship, inclusion, sharing, right and wrong, manners, beauty, pictures, the emotions, dreaming and reality. All the stories, drawings and photographs that you'll need to carry out the enquiries are provided and can be used with your children directly from the book. Each step-by step enquiry includes: (1) The philosophical topic and the aim of the enquiry; (2) The stimuli you'll need; (3) Questions to ask the children; (4) Possible answers to help move the discussion forward; and (5) Ideas to help you summarise and extend the enquiry. Chapters contained in this book are: (1) Political Philosophy: Fairness and Rules The Teddy Bears' Picnic - Fairness: Equality versus Need Gavin Builds a Sandpit - Fairness and Refusing to Help The Animal Snack - Sharing Fairly and Prudence School Rules - Obeying the Rules; (2) Environmental Philosophy: Green Land, Waste and Recycling Greenhill Village Use of Green Land Emerald the Elephant - Wasting Water Benny the Bin - Recycling; (3) Social Philosophy: Friends and Relationships Teddy' Friends - Characteristics of a Good Friend William and Arthur - Friendship and Sharing Emma and Sally - Cooperation Maisie the Sheep - Being Different from Others Big Teddy's New School - Inclusion; (4) Ethics: Virtues and Vices Sam's Kind Day - Kindness Kirsty - Telling the Truth The Magic Words - Saying Thank You Teddy Scrooge - Giving Presents The Selfish Hippo - Selfishness Charlotte the Lazy Caterpillar - Laziness Pancake the Greedy Rabbit - Greed; (5) Aesthetics: Beauty, Piures and Stories Beautiful Things - Beauty Cats - Photographs and Drawings a Walk on the Beach - Fantasy and Realistic Stories The Cave Monster - Enjoying Scary Stories; (6) Philosophy of Mind: Emotions, Beliefs and Persons Patch and his Friends - Anger Rabbit and Mouse - Fear Happy Suzy - Happiness Sad Teddy - Sadness Andy's Accident - Pain Giants - Pretending and Believing Isaac the Robot - Persons; (7) Epistemology: Dreams and Illusions Milly's Bad Dream - Things in Dreams Do Not Really Happen - Dreaming of School - Are You Dreaming Now? A Stick in the Water - Visual Illusions; and (8) Metaphysics: What is Real? Angus the Cat - Do the Animals in a Story Really Exist? Numbers - Are Numbers Real? Theseus's Ship - When are Things the Same?