GB2334365A

GB2334365A - Educational and recreational aids

Info

Publication number: GB2334365A
Application number: GB9803030A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Amir Ali Humadi
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-02-12
Filing date: 1998-02-12
Publication date: 1999-08-18
Also published as: GB9803030D0

Abstract

An educational and/or recreational aid comprises a substrate printed with at least one question with a corresponding answer, the answer being overprinted with a layer of opaque material which can be removed by frictional force, e.g. like a scratch card, to reveal the answer. One or more such substrates may be provided such as in loose-leaf or bound form. The invention is applicable to question and answer exercises for educational purposes, and also to puzzles, for example crosswords having the individual squares of the grid covered by the opaque material. An implement for removing the scratch-off material from the answer(s) may be provided, with one or more substrates, as a kit.

Description

Preferred features and embodiments of the invention in its various aspects will now be described in detail.

The preferred manner of implementation of the invention is to employ known scratch card technology, but to the new field of educational aids such as books and like teaching materials, which can take a very wide variety of forms and contents. Virtually any sort of teaching aid based on printed matter, e.g. words, letters, numbers, symbols, pictures, or any other appropriate indicia, can have this technology applied to it in order to create educational materials which develop conventional teaching methods using modern day trends, in accordance with the invention. The invention is similarly applicable to the field of recreational aids such as puzzles, particularly those of the crossword puzzle type.

Substrates which can be used in the invention will normally be of paper, card, or possibly even plastics sheets, and they may be provided either singly or in bound form, e.g. in the form of a conventionally bound book or possibly even of the nature of a loose-leaf file. The substrates may be one- or two-sided, i.e. the printed matter and scratch-off regions being provided on either one only or both sides of the or each sheet.

The indicia printed on the first and second regions may likewise take a whole host of forms, possibly too numerous to mention specifically, but will normally be in the form of words, letters, numbers, symbols or pictorial representations which are appropriate to the question(s) and answer(s) in question and the educational or recreational field to which the item is directed. Typical examples are grammatical exercises, comprehension questions, mathematics exercises, or even exercises in other subjects in the sciences or the arts, and crossword puzzles. The general principle, however, is that the substrate has one or more first regions which constitute a question or like statement directed to the child or adult user, and one or more second regions bearing the corresponding answer or response which is, in the produced substrate, temporarily obscured by virtue of an applied layer of opaque material which can be removed by frictional force, that is to say a layer or coating, preferably in the form of a patch, of material of the nature used on known scratch cards, such as of the type used in various promotional and advertising fields, lottery tickets, and such like.

The printing of the first and second regions of the substrate may be accomplished using any suitable known printing technique, examples of which are extremely widely available and well documented in the literature.

The application of the scratch-off region or regions, and the material for use therefor, may likewise be according to well known scratch card technology, examples of which are also widely available commercially and well documented in the technical and patent literature, and so will be readily available to the skilled person. By way of one example, however, published International patent application WO 97/43126 (British Printing Co Ltd) describes a a technique for production of scratch-off cards based on offset lithographic printing, wherein a wax-like release layer of oleoresinous release varnish is applied to an area of preprinted matter on a substrate and an opaque release coating is applied over it to form the scratch-off region(s).

The design of the educational or recreational aids according to the present invention may take a very wide variety of forms, but currently envisaged examples include the following: (1) Vocabulary or grammar exercises for use in the teaching of languages, e.g. English, such as for instance the provision of sentences containing one or more missing words, with the gap(s) being formed by the overlaid scratch-off material, with the printed word(s) therebeneath being revealable once the child or adult has mentally attempted the exercise. Alternatively, the scratch-off regions may be provided adjacent gaps in the substrate itself, thereby allowing spaces for the writing in of answers and leaving the scratch-off regions for the purpose of checking them.

(2) A series of questions, e.g. in the teaching of mathematics or other science subjects, where scratch-off region(s) concealing the answers are provided separate or spaced from the question(s).

(3) Exercises or recreational items of the nature of crossword puzzles, where either a conventional crossword grid has the solution preprinted on it but all the respective answer squares are overprinted with the scratchoff material, so that the answers can be revealed one by one as the clues are mentally addressed, or alternatively the same as just mentioned but with similar gap(s) in the clues using the same principle as mentioned in No. 1 above.

The above are just a few examples of how the invention may be implemented, but it is envisaged that there is virtually no limit to the type of educational or recreational item and its design to which the invention can be applied.

The removal of the scratch-off region or regions of the substrate may be achieved by any suitable means available to the student or other user of the item, such as by use of the edge of a coin, a fingernail, or, perhaps usefully, an implement such as of the physical nature of a writing implement. In the latter case, it is possible to provide the implement together with the substrate, or alternatively one or more substrates, in the form of a kit or pack.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. An educational or recreational aid comprising a substrate having in at least one first region thereof printed indicia of the nature of or representative of a question, and in at least one second region thereof printed indicia of the nature of or representative of a corresponding answer, wherein the indicia in the at least one second region are overprinted with a layer of opaque material which can be removed by frictional force to reveal and to leave undisturbed the indicia therebeneath.
2. An educational or recreational aid according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is of paper, card, or plastics sheet material, provided either singly or in bound form, such as in the form of a conventionally bound book or of the nature of a loose-leaf file.
3. An educational or recreational aid according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the substrate(s) is/are one-or twosided, the at least one first and at least one second regions of the substrate being provided on either one only or both sides, as the case may be, of the or each sheet, as the case may be.
4. An educational or recreational aid according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the printed indicia on the first and second regions of the substrate are in the form of words, letters, numbers, symbols or pictorial representations which are appropriate to the question(s) and answer(s) in question and the educational or recreational field to which the item is directed for use.
5. An educational or recreational aid according to any preceding claim, wherein the said opaque material which can be removed by frictional force is in the form of a layer or coating, preferably in the form of a patch, of material of the nature used on known scratch cards.
6. An educational or recreational aid according to claim 5, wherein the said layer of opaque material which can be removed by frictional force comprises an opaque release coating which is applied over a wax-like release layer of oleoresinous release varnish applied to the said at least one second region of the substrate.
7. A educational or recreational aid according to any preceding claim, which takes the form of any of the following: (i) vocabulary or grammar exercises for use in the teaching of languages; (ii) a series of questions for use in the teaching of mathematics or other science subjects; and (iii) exercises or recreational items of the nature of crossword puzzles.
8. A method of making an educational or recreational aid, comprising providing a substrate, printing in at least one first region thereof indicia of the nature of or representative of a question and in at least one second region thereof indicia of the nature of or representative of a corresponding answer, and applying over the top of said printed at least one second region a layer of opaque material which can be removed by frictional force.
9. A kit comprising an educational or recreational aid according to any one of claims 1 to 7, together with an implement for removing by frictional force the said layer of opaque material on the said at least one second region of the substrate.
10. An educational or recreational aid according to claim 1, or a method of making same according to 8, or a kit according to claim 9, substantially as described herein.