Use this Play Together guide to learn how you can help your child turn Thomas Was Alone play time into a positive learning and relationship-building experience. To learn more about why playing games with your children is so important, check out our Science of Play page.

Talk Before You Play

Take a minute to talk with your child about how the Flexibility and Self-Awareness thinking skills work, and why they are important for success in school and at home.

Set Gameplay Goals

Thomas Was Alone is a single player game, but its short episodic levels and chapters make it easy to take turns playing side-by-side with your child.

Gameplay Goals:

• Find Christopher
• Find John
• Find Claire

Stop and Reflect

After you've found Claire, take a moment to discuss with your child the importance of the thinking skills at play in Thomas Was Alone.

How do the characters your child has met in the game so far, and their internal dialogues, differ? How do the AIs work together despite these differences? Are there things one AI is good at that another is not? How do the AIs compliment each other? What kind of strategies did your child use as more AIs were added to the team? Can these strategies be translated to academic or social situations?

How does social flexibility compare to the flexibility practiced in order to get past a particularly difficult in-game obstacle? Is it difficult to work through the game with so few mechanics, or does the game give players just enough to get by?

Are there times when your child’s self-talk isn’t so constructive (like Christopher’s, for example)? Does the game remind them of real-life people and relationships? Is there someone who is difficult to get along with who still has admirable qualities and talents? Are there people and things they take for granted sometimes? How does the game make them think about what they are thankful for?

Our Make it Work activities are designed to transform your child’s gameplay to real-world improvements in thinking and academic skills. If you’re just getting started with LearningWorks for Kids, we suggest you try them all to find which are the best for you and your child.

Introduce the Thinking Skills

Read over the pages for the flexibility and self-awareness thinking skills. Then take some time to introduce these skills to your child. Explain to your child that:

• Flexibility is the thinking skill that helps us adapt to new situations, learn from mistakes and change what we are doing in order to deal with different challenges.
• Self-Awareness is the thinking skill that helps us to understand our actions, analyze our own thinking and articulate our thoughts and feelings. It also helps us empathize with others.

Flexibility Activity

Try teaching your child how to use common household items in different and unusual ways. Ask your child to come up with ten ways to use a fork, book, pen, or piece of clothing and discuss how being flexible can help to solve problems. Flexible problem solving often uses the materials on hand in the house to fill a variety of different purposes. Talk to your child about ways to apply this approach in her own life.

Self-Awareness Activity

Talk about how others might be thinking or feeling. Discuss your own experience while involved in an activity with your child, ask about her thoughts or feelings and compare impressions. Use everyday circumstances to motivate your child to consider how other kids might be feeling in situations such as before a recital, staying home alone for the first time, or losing a game. Find similar chances to discuss the feelings of others while watching sports on television, learning about an accident or seeing a classmate receive an award for an accomplishment.