SawTots — for grown-ups
SawTots is a first "how do you know?" game for ages 3–5. There's nothing to read, no score, and no way to lose — just Willa the owl and a peeking game about good reasons. Here is the whole game:
- Willa hides a thing — Willa the owl tucks something into a box, basket or jar. A big “?” shows on screen. Everything is spoken aloud, so no reading is needed.
- Two friends explain — Two friends each say how they know what’s inside. One really CHECKED — “I peeked and saw it!”, “I felt it — it’s fuzzy!”, “I heard it go meow!”. The other just guessed — “because I said so”.
- Tap the friend who really checked — Your child taps the friend who used a sense — eyes, ears, hands, nose or mouth. A wrong tap never loses; Willa gently asks “did they really check?” and points back.
- Out it comes! — The friend who checked reveals the thing, and Willa says the little lesson out loud: a good reason means you really looked. Five happy discoveries make a game.
What it's building
The very first reasons-and-evidence habit: the idea that we really know something when we've actually checked it — looked, felt, heard, smelled or tasted — not just because someone said so or "because it's true because it's true" (a circular reason). It's the gentlest beginning of the thread that runs through our whole thinking family, all the way up to spotting a bias or a wobbly argument.
How sure are the scientists?
Solid. Even before they can read, young children already prefer a person who gives a real, perception-based reason over one who gives a circular or empty one (Mercier, Bernard & Clément; Corriveau & Kurkul). SawTots simply gives that budding instinct a happy little workout.