The big ideas
Fifty-four questions with no answer at the bottom
Every page has the same four parts: the question, the story, a thing to try, and questions to argue about on the way home. Grouped by what the idea is about.
How to Live
Friendship, courage, happiness, fairness
How to Live · ages 8–12Can anger be useful?Someone was unfair to a person you care about. You feel angry. Is the anger a problem or a message? How to Live · ages 7–10Do animals matter?Your friend says a dog doesn't matter because it can't talk. Is that a good reason? How to Live · ages 9–12What is attention for?Something is talking to you and you are looking at a screen. What are you giving away, and to whom? How to Live · ages 6–9Is brave the same as not scared?Two people jump off the same rock. One is scared stiff, the other is not. Which one is brave? How to Live · ages 9–12Is it scary that things end?Everything that has a beginning has an end. Does that make a life worse, or make it something? How to Live · ages 9–12Do you have to help?A child is drowning in a shallow pond. You are walking past in new shoes. Do you have to wade in? How to Live · ages 6–8What is fair?Two kids share one cake. One is hungrier. One did the work. How should it be cut? How to Live · ages 9–12Should you forgive someone who isn't sorry?Someone hurt you and has never apologised. Is forgiving them generous, or is it letting them off? How to Live · ages 5–8What makes someone a friend?Someone plays with you every day but says mean things to your other friend. Is that a friend? How to Live · ages 6–9What makes a good day?Roller-skating is more fun than homework. Would a life of only roller-skating be a good life? How to Live · ages 8–12Is hope a plan or a feeling?Hoping and wishing sound the same. Are they? How to Live · ages 8–12Who would you be if nobody could see you?A ring makes you invisible. Nobody would ever find out what you did with it. What would you do? How to Live · ages 7–11Is it ever right to lie?Your friend asks if you like the drawing they just made. You don't. What do you say? How to Live · ages 8–12Is breaking a promise always wrong?You promised to go. Something better came up. What do you actually owe? How to Live · ages 6–9Do you need things to be happy?A girl is given everything she asks for. Is she lucky? How to Live · ages 7–10Does winning matter?You played well and lost. Was it still a good game?
What Is Real
Time, dreams, the world, what exists
What Is Real · ages 9–12Did you cause that, or did it just happen?The window broke after you kicked the ball. You didn't mean to. Did you cause it? What Is Real · ages 8–12Does anything stay the same?Your boat has a plank replaced. Then another. After enough years, none of the original planks are left. Is it the same boat? What Is Real · ages 9–12Is red in the apple or in you?Your red might be what I call green. Neither of us would ever find out. Does that matter? What Is Real · ages 7–10How do you know you are awake?In a dream you are sure everything is real. You are always sure. What Is Real · ages 9–12Can you add to something endless?There are endless numbers. Now double every one of them. Did you get more than endless? What Is Real · ages 9–12Why is there something instead of nothing?Nothing cannot make something. So where did all of this come from? What Is Real · ages 8–12Is a number real?There are three apples. Now nobody is looking. Is there still a three? What Is Real · ages 8–11Is what you see all there is?You see a bent straw in a glass of water. The straw is not bent. So are your eyes lying to you? What Is Real · ages 7–10Why does time speed up and slow down?Ten minutes in a boring lesson. Ten minutes of your favourite game. Same ten minutes?
How We Know
Truth, proof, being sure, mistakes
How We Know · ages 8–12Is changing your mind weak?Someone changes their mind when the evidence is clear. Is that strong or weak? How We Know · ages 9–12Should you doubt everything?You can doubt that you are awake. Can you doubt that you are doubting? How We Know · ages 8–12Can you trust your memory?Two of you remember the same day completely differently. One of you must be wrong. How would you find out which? How We Know · ages 7–11What are mistakes for?You got it wrong three times. What, if anything, have you learned that a right answer would not have taught you? How We Know · ages 9–12Do you see patterns that aren't there?You wore the same socks and your team won. Should you wear them next week? How We Know · ages 7–10How do you know if something is true?Everyone you know believes something. Does that make it true?
Who Am I
Thinking, the mind, your self
Who Am I · ages 7–10Who am I?If you forgot everything about your life, would you still be you? Who Am I · ages 8–11Is being bored bad for you?Nothing is happening. Nothing at all. Is that a problem — or the start of one? Who Am I · ages 8–12Is imagining something real?You can only imagine things you've seen. Is that true of you? Who Am I · ages 9–12Do words shape what you can think?Some languages have no word for 'left' or 'right'. Does that mean the people who speak them cannot tell? Who Am I · ages 8–12How do you know I'm not pretending?Your friend says they are fine. Their face says otherwise. Who is right about what they are feeling? Who Am I · ages 8–12What counts as a person?A baby, a very old person, a dolphin, a robot that talks about its feelings. Which of these is a person? Who Am I · ages 8–12Should a robot have rights?A robot says it is frightened of being switched off. Do you have to believe it? Who Am I · ages 8–11Where do your thoughts live?Name a thought. Now point to it. Where is it?
Living Together
Rules, promises, groups, power
Living Together · ages 9–12Should you be allowed to say anything?Someone says something you think is badly wrong, out loud. Should they be stopped? Living Together · ages 9–12What is freedom?You want to play music at midnight. Your neighbour wants to sleep. Whose freedom wins? Living Together · ages 9–12Do people who aren't born yet matter?You can do something that benefits you now and costs nothing to anyone alive. It just makes life harder for people in a hundred years. Does that settle it? Living Together · ages 9–12Who gets to decide?A group votes to take away one person's biscuits. Fair, because most people agreed? Living Together · ages 9–12Is it fair to be lucky?Two drivers. Both look away for one second. One child runs out. Same mistake, different lives. Who was worse? Living Together · ages 9–12What is money worth?A piece of paper buys a loaf of bread because everyone agrees it will. What happens if they stop? Living Together · ages 9–12Who owns the land?Someone fenced a field nobody was using. Is it theirs now? Living Together · ages 9–12What is punishment for?Someone breaks a rule. Should the punishment be what they deserve, or what stops it happening again? Living Together · ages 6–9Who decides the rules?A rule everyone follows and nobody agreed to. Is that still a rule? Living Together · ages 8–12Do you have a right to a secret?Should everything about you be knowable by everyone? What would you want kept back? Living Together · ages 10–12Is war ever right?Someone is attacking people who cannot defend themselves. Should anyone stop it by force? Living Together · ages 9–12Why do people work?If nobody needed the money, would anyone work? What would be left of the day?
Beauty & Making
Art, music, stories, taste
Beauty & Making · ages 8–12What is art for?A pile of bricks in a gallery is called art. A pile of bricks on a building site is not. What is doing the work? Beauty & Making · ages 7–10Is beautiful the same for everyone?One person loves a painting, another walks past it. Who is right? Beauty & Making · ages 9–12Which should you trust: proof or story?You learn your best friend is moving away. One page of facts and dates, or one true story about them? Both are true - but only one helps.