My boys love top trumps, to the point that they formed the basis of my eldest’s Home Education year 6 project. Our approach to Home Ed is very relaxed, so the set of cards were his only formal, studied piece of work he produced that year, and the hours of dedicated research on his favourite animal, snakes, shows. There are 30 cards in the set, each painstakingly designed, inc pictures and facts copied from an adult’s snake encyclopaedia. Sample card: Brazilian Rainbow Boa; colours 3; greatness 58; length 200cm; page 110; fact: ‘has heat sensitive pits on it’s lips enabling efficient hunting of endotherms at night. Captures and constricts a wide variety of birds and up to medium sized mammals. Has a prehensile tail, arrow shaped head and powerful body’.
My middle son made top trumps based on philosophers (inspired by the Monty Python Philosophers’ Song, because my boys have excellent taste so obviously love Monty Python). He is much less focussed, however, so his real masterwork is a set for another game which is perfectly suited to his creative flair. The name of the game escapes me but it involves drawing cards that affect game play. The most memorable card is ‘Angry Rainbow’ 😂 Wish I had it to hand so I could look up what consequences picking it up has on the bearer.
My 8 year old recently made a small set on animals, with drawings that are peerless in at once being simple and striking, hilarious, clever and characterful (from the age of 3 he’s been able to capture in a few dashed lines what the rest of us could never come close to however hard we tried; I’m still in awe of his angry jellyfish). His elephant is drawn face on, which it would never in a million years have occurred to me to do; his panda looks like a comic grumpy old man, scolding someone to stage right. His stats that are the most playable of any of them.
All of this is to say that kids are amazing, and never more so than when they independently set about tasks they’ve set for themselves, with the passion and patience to see them through. It’s wonderful to see Phoebe embarking on her own project and hearing about the qualities of fruits that have captured her imagination. Thank you for sharing. I know you’ll treasure those cards for years to come. The ones my sons made are so precious to me, as physical incarnations of who they are, that when they leave home I’m going to beg them to leave them behind. And watch out, these years pass so fast! I can’t get over my eldest being 14; it was a real shock to me when my sister pointed out last week that that means he’s going to turn 15 in a few months - that can’t possibly be true! To me he’s still a 10 year old lovingly researching snakes. Hang onto that hairy coconut, Richard, it’s a potent symbol of this special moment in time.
I just did a top trump, made the windows rattle it was that loud, and it was a bit on the stinky side. 53 going on 13 me. Still finding breaking wind funny. :)
It’s minus 100 for the lemon. I will let Phoebe do her own scores but nice to have that to refer to in emergencies. Not all scores out of 190 though so it’s harder to work out which category is good/bad as new player!
All of Phoebe's fruit pictures are more than passable imitations of the actual fruit, EXCEPT THE COCONUT. which definitely looks like a sickly excised bollock. Tour promotion poster?
Excellent work
My boys love top trumps, to the point that they formed the basis of my eldest’s Home Education year 6 project. Our approach to Home Ed is very relaxed, so the set of cards were his only formal, studied piece of work he produced that year, and the hours of dedicated research on his favourite animal, snakes, shows. There are 30 cards in the set, each painstakingly designed, inc pictures and facts copied from an adult’s snake encyclopaedia. Sample card: Brazilian Rainbow Boa; colours 3; greatness 58; length 200cm; page 110; fact: ‘has heat sensitive pits on it’s lips enabling efficient hunting of endotherms at night. Captures and constricts a wide variety of birds and up to medium sized mammals. Has a prehensile tail, arrow shaped head and powerful body’.
My middle son made top trumps based on philosophers (inspired by the Monty Python Philosophers’ Song, because my boys have excellent taste so obviously love Monty Python). He is much less focussed, however, so his real masterwork is a set for another game which is perfectly suited to his creative flair. The name of the game escapes me but it involves drawing cards that affect game play. The most memorable card is ‘Angry Rainbow’ 😂 Wish I had it to hand so I could look up what consequences picking it up has on the bearer.
My 8 year old recently made a small set on animals, with drawings that are peerless in at once being simple and striking, hilarious, clever and characterful (from the age of 3 he’s been able to capture in a few dashed lines what the rest of us could never come close to however hard we tried; I’m still in awe of his angry jellyfish). His elephant is drawn face on, which it would never in a million years have occurred to me to do; his panda looks like a comic grumpy old man, scolding someone to stage right. His stats that are the most playable of any of them.
All of this is to say that kids are amazing, and never more so than when they independently set about tasks they’ve set for themselves, with the passion and patience to see them through. It’s wonderful to see Phoebe embarking on her own project and hearing about the qualities of fruits that have captured her imagination. Thank you for sharing. I know you’ll treasure those cards for years to come. The ones my sons made are so precious to me, as physical incarnations of who they are, that when they leave home I’m going to beg them to leave them behind. And watch out, these years pass so fast! I can’t get over my eldest being 14; it was a real shock to me when my sister pointed out last week that that means he’s going to turn 15 in a few months - that can’t possibly be true! To me he’s still a 10 year old lovingly researching snakes. Hang onto that hairy coconut, Richard, it’s a potent symbol of this special moment in time.
Did somebody say ‘hardness’? 🥕
I just did a top trump, made the windows rattle it was that loud, and it was a bit on the stinky side. 53 going on 13 me. Still finding breaking wind funny. :)
Is this a help or a hindrance? I had to veto the 100 score for a lemon’s sweetness.
(Sorry about the formatting)
Fruit Sweetness Popularity Size Hardness Top Trump Score
Apple 42 65 50 10 88
Banana 48 69 45 5 100
Mango 54 62 55 8 95
Strawberry 46 68 10 4 90
Blueberry 38 60 5 4 80
Watermelon 50 64 100 7 96
Pineapple 54 58 75 20 92
Orange 45 66 50 8 89
Grape 44 63 7 4 84
Kiwi 40 50 20 6 78
Peach 48 57 40 6 85
Raspberry 40 55 5 4 77
Cherry 49 56 7 6 83
Lemon 20 45 30 8 68
Coconut 30 47 80 30 81
Plum 47 54 25 6 83
Pear 43 60 45 5 87
Avocado 25 52 70 25 78
Pomegranate 40 50 40 20 82
Papaya 53 51 60 8 88
Fig 50 48 15 8 85
Lychee 54 49 4 5 86
Passion Fruit 50 46 6 10 82
Apricot 47 50 10 6 81
Blackcurrant 38 44 5 5 74
Cranberry 30 43 5 6 70
Durian 50 40 75 25 79
Dragonfruit 40 47 60 10 80
Guava 52 45 35 8 85
Starfruit 44 42 30 6 78
Persimmon 53 41 35 6 84
Melon (Cantaloupe) 48 55 90 8 90
Nectarine 48 56 40 6 84
Grapefruit 35 50 55 7 78
Custard Apple 54 40 40 5 85
Jackfruit 50 42 95 20 89
Mulberry 42 38 5 5 75
Tamarind 28 35 20 20 71
Gooseberry 35 39 5 6 72
Soursop 52 37 50 10 83
It’s minus 100 for the lemon. I will let Phoebe do her own scores but nice to have that to refer to in emergencies. Not all scores out of 190 though so it’s harder to work out which category is good/bad as new player!
Minus 100 - that makes sense. She's smart, that kid!
Who says AI has no practical application?
All of Phoebe's fruit pictures are more than passable imitations of the actual fruit, EXCEPT THE COCONUT. which definitely looks like a sickly excised bollock. Tour promotion poster?