Dusk
for grown-ups
What's going on
The biggest numbers, under the first stars of the evening:
- Twelve, in three rows of four. Kea sees three fours. Rock sees two halves of six. The Duck sees columns of three.
- Thirteen, in clumps of five, five and three. Kea sees five, five, three. Rock sees two fives making ten, and three.
- Nine, scattered. Kea counts every one. Rock finds three threes.
The maths: twelve three ways (3 × 4, 6 + 6, 4 × 3), and making ten first (5 + 5 + 3 is 10 + 3).
These are the pictures in the first play. On a replay each flash is a different number in the same kind of shape, with the stars in new places.
What kids usually do
- Ask for the longest look. Thirteen in half a second is a lot. Two seconds is allowed, and asking is the honest move.
- Build the thirteen as 5 + 5 + 3, then see Rock's ten. "Make a ten first" is a trick they'll use for years.
- Find a fourth way to see the twelve that nobody in the cast saw. "I saw it another way" is there for exactly that.
At dinner
Ask: "Thirteen is five and five and three. And ten and three. How else can you make it?"
See how many ways the table can find.
The round celebrates the ways of seeing, never the speed or the right number. This card tells you what's in the sky, so you can play along.
