Operation Spy

Objective: Make inferences

Albert's favorite pastime is spying on his neighbors! He hides and observes people without their knowledge, trying to understand what's happening to them. But then Gertrude, a neighbor with an unaccommodating disposition, unmasks the little spy! She's furious and threatens to go to the block party to warn everyone that the boy is spying on them! Help Albert spy on his neighborhood and get to the scene before his angry neighbor so he can grab the microphone!

Operation Spy is designed to challenge children aged 3½ to 6½ to make inferences, i.e. deduce information not explicitly provided in a situation. The child answers questions about, for example, a character's problem, goal, action or emotion in a given situation. In this way, they become accustomed to making inferences, a skill that will be particularly useful at school for understanding texts.

The game includes 84 inference question cards on :

• a character's problem;
• the emotion or internal state of a character;
• the cause of a situation or the effect of that cause;
• what's going to happen next in a situation;
• a character's purpose;
• attempts to solve a problem;
• the action, speech or thought of a character;
• the location of a situation.
• Level 1 questions focus on a character's problem, goal or action, as well as the emotion he or she feels in a given situation. Children are also encouraged to make inferences about the cause of an emotion or situation (e.g., Why is the girl laughing?).

At Level 2, questions are added about a character's attempts to solve a problem, and what might happen as a result of a given situation (e.g.: What could the character do to solve his problem? What will happen?). What's going to happen?).

At level 3, children are often asked to imagine the hypothetical outcome of a situation illustrated on the card. They are also asked to make inferences about where a situation is (or will be) taking place, and about a character's internal state in a hypothetical situation (e.g.: Imagine that the boy overtakes the girl in line. What emotion do you think the girl will feel?)