P4C Craft

p4c craft header

How to orchestrate philosophical inquiry

Our p4c-craft area is a collection of practical ideas on all aspects of orchestrating philosophical inquiry such as: preparing materials, helping pupils create questions, pushing for depth in dialogue and planning for progression. These tried-and-tested ideas will not only give you food for thought as you plan your p4c classes and curricula, they will also help you to make your p4c teaching more varied and effective.

For a brief overview of the practice of p4c, read our guidance notes for teachers in the public area. We ill be adding more key documents in the near future to provide a some common approaches to the structuring of p4c sessions with pupils.

The p4c-craft resources on this page are organised in a simple table. If you use the sub-menus in the left column, you will be able to filter the list according to the resource category. Sort any table in this section using the column headings.

Title Category Author Createdsort icon
A classroom dialogue
Video of a classroom dialogue with commentary. Enquiry is ongoing. An initial dialogue around a pupils' question often consists of a collection of related thoughts. What then? 		Community Dialogue, Following Up Steve Williams 17/05/2012
All, some and none: A dialogue with young children
An audio clip with some comments on using these concepts in discussion with 4 to 5 year old children 		Community Dialogue, Reasoning Concepts Steve Williams 08/02/2012
One Hand Clapping
A simple circle game to focus a group before an enquiry 		Games Jason Buckley 03/02/2012
Small Talk for Big Talk
When did you last have a meeting where the very first thing you spoke about was the subject of the meeting? This article explores the use of directed "small talk" to make small group discussions more productive. 		Community Dialogue Jason Buckley 03/02/2012
Thinking Moves
An e-books with 14 activities to enliven you P4C sessions. There are short 'thinking games', ideas for role plays and routines you can adapt for mini-enquiries and follow-ups. 		E-Books, Games Karin Murris 26/10/2011
The Enquiry Chauffeur
Practical ideas for making your enquiries more inclusive, more reflective or more involving 		P4C Craft Jason Buckley 09/09/2011
Fruit Salad and Philosophers' Fruit Salad
A game to mix up a group and introduce philosophical questions 		Games, Opinions Jason Buckley 08/09/2011
Expectations of P4C skills in the Foundation stage
Examples of skills and progression of skills expected from the majority of pupils in the Foundation Stage over the course of a year's participation in P4C. 		Evaluation Sara Stanley 10/06/2011
Panel Discussions
The method of 'panel discussion' provides a very useful and flexible discussion format. It also helps you work with very large groups. 		Community Dialogue Steve Williams 09/06/2011
Collaborative Games from Improvised Comedy
Games from the world of comedy improvisation that help participants relax and overcome fear of failure. 		Games Jason Buckley 05/06/2011
Change places if
A favourite game that enables social mixing and encourages children to enjoy reflecting and making up their minds. It can, however, be varied and extended in many ways, and could be build up as a 'regular' activity, rather than a 'one-off'. 		Games Roger Sutcliffe 04/04/2011
Zip Bong
Another game for fun and concentration 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
What If ...
A game to exercise imagination and ponder consequences 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Getting-to-know-you games
'Human Bingo' and 'Three Things in Common' 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Group Beat
A game to encourage concentration and a sense of community 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Fruit Bowl or Fruit Salad
Another game for fun, quick thinking and mixing up a group 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Follow Me, Follow You
A fun game to develop conviviality in a group 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Exaggeration
A fun game of exaggerated movements to develop concentration and conviviality 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Crash (aka: 'Clump')
A game alternative way of getting children into groups without fuss. 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Consequences
An amusing game that allows you to introduce or reinforce the meaning of the word 'consequence' 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Boom! (aka fizz buzz)
A warm-up game for concentrating and keeping focus 		Games Michelle Whitworth 03/03/2011
Ball Toss
 Games Michelle Whitworth 08/02/2011
A question checklist
A checklist for helping children to create, choose and prepare questions for philosophical dialogue 		Choosing Questions Steve Williams 04/10/2009
Community of Enquiry Framework
A simple framework for those beginning to use communities of enquiry 		Getting Started Anonymous 29/09/2009
Ideas for writing
Ideas to get children writing. The writing easily into inquiry. 		Getting Started, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 26/09/2009