Bringing Big Ideas to Little Thinkers: A Guide for Parents & Educators
Welcome! The Aristots book series was created not just to entertain, but to act as a playful springboard for the most important conversations you can have with a child. Each story is carefully designed to introduce a core philosophical concept in a way that is accessible, fun, and encourages young minds to develop their own perspectives.
Book 1: The Shadow of the Cave. Core Philosophy: Appearance vs. Reality (Plato's Allegory of the Cave)
This story is a gentle introduction to one of the most famous ideas in all of philosophy: Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It's designed to help children start thinking about the difference between what things seem to be and what they really are.
The story uses the tale of people who have only ever seen shadows on a wall to pose a big question: What if the things we think are real are just copies of something even more real?
This adventure encourages children to become critical thinkers, to not always trust their first impression, and to understand the value of stepping out into the "sunlight" to seek deeper knowledge and truth for themselves.
Discussion Questions & Activities
A Note for Grown-Ups: This guide can help you explore the "big idea" in this book with your young thinkers. Encourage them to be curious and to share their own unique perspectives on what is real.
Questions About the Story
What did the people in the story watch on the cave wall all day? Why did they believe the shadows were real things?
What was different about the world outside the cave compared to the world inside?
Why didn't the other cave dwellers believe their friend when he came back to tell them about the real world?
Arry says he wants to "touch the real world, not just see its shadows." What do you think he means by that?
Big Questions About Reality
Have you ever seen a shadow that looked like something else? (Like a monster, or a rabbit?) What was the real thing making the shadow?
Is believing something just because you've always seen it the same as knowing it's true? Why or why not?
What is one thing you are very curious to learn more about so you can understand it better?
Besides seeing, what other senses do we use to know that something is real? (e.g., touching, hearing, smelling).
Book 2: Friendship Fun Fair. Core Philosophy: The Nature of Friendship (Aristotle)
This story is designed to help children think more deeply about one of the most important parts of their lives: friendship. It playfully explores ideas from the philosopher Aristotle (Arry's namesake!), who believed that there are different kinds of friendship, each with its own special value.
The setting of the "Friendship Fun Fair" represents a friendship of pleasure—the joy we get from having fun and sharing amusing experiences with others. However, when the friends face the challenge of needing to build a bridge, they discover a deeper level of connection.
They learn to work together, using each other's unique skills to achieve a common goal. This introduces the idea of a friendship of utility—the value of helping and being helped by others.
By successfully building the bridge and sharing in the achievement, they experience the highest form of friendship: a friendship of the good, where friends appreciate each other for who they are and help one another to be their best selves. This story shows that the best friendships, like the strongest bridges, are built with a combination of fun, teamwork, and genuine care.
Discussion Questions & Activities
A Note for Grown-Ups: This guide can help you explore the "big idea" in this book—what it means to be a good friend—with your young thinkers. The goal is to celebrate the different ways we value our friends.
Questions About the Story
What was the main challenge the friends faced at the fun fair?
Why did they need to build a "Friendship Bridge"?
What different jobs did each friend (Arry, Lyssa, and Lucky) do to help build the bridge?
How did they feel when they finally crossed the bridge together?
Big Questions About Friendship
What do you think are the most important ingredients for a good friendship?
Are there different kinds of friends? (For example, are there friends you love to play games with, and other friends who are good at helping you solve problems?)
What is something nice you have done for a friend? What is something nice a friend has recently done for you?
The story says the strongest bridges are built with teamwork. What does that mean to you?
How can you be a good friend to someone tomorrow?
Book 3: Lucky's Lost Day . Core Philosophy: The Nature of the Self (Hume's Bundle Theory)
At its heart, Lucky's Lost Day is designed to explore a classic philosophical puzzle with children: Is our identity a single, unchanging thing, or is it something more fluid and complex?
The story uses the simple, relatable crisis of Lucky the fox losing his favorite hat to make this big question accessible. When his hat disappears, Lucky's sense of self disappears along with it, prompting his friends to find a solution.
This leads to a playful exploration of a famous thought experiment, humorously known to many as the "Trigger's Broom" paradox. The friends try to restore Lucky's identity by building him a brand new hat—with a new "head" made from a leaf and a new "brim" made from a twig, so to speak. When this new hat doesn't magically make him "Lucky" again, the real learning adventure begins.
The story gently guides children towards the Humean idea of the "bundle theory" of self: the concept that our identity isn't found in any single object or trait, but is a wonderful, ever-changing bundle of our memories, our actions, our kindness, and our friendships. Use this story as a springboard for conversations about self-esteem, what makes a person unique, and the memories that make up our own special "bundles."
Teaching Guide & Discussion Questions:
A Note for Grown-Ups: This guide is designed to help you explore the "big idea" in Lucky's Lost Day—the nature of personal identity—with your young thinkers. There are no right or wrong answers, only wonderful conversations! The goal is to encourage curiosity and let your child know that their thoughts and perspectives are valuable.
Questions About the Story
What was so special about Lucky's red hat? How did it make him feel?
When Lucky's friends built him a beautiful new hat, why didn't it make him feel like himself again?
What was the story Norma the wise owl told about her nest? How was her nest similar to Lucky?
What were some of the memories Arry and Lyssa shared with Lucky to help him feel better?
Big Questions About Identity
What are three things that make you, YOU? (It can be things you like to do, feelings you have, or things you are good at).
If you got a new haircut or wore different clothes, would you still be the same person on the inside? Why?
What is a happy memory that you feel is an important part of who you are?
The story says our "self" is like a big bundle of our actions, feelings, and friendships. What are some of the things in your "bundle"?
Book 4: The Fog of Fairness . Core Philosophy: Justice as Fairness (John Rawls)
At its heart, The Fog of Fairness is a playful introduction to one of the most important ideas in political philosophy: how to create a just and fair society. The story explores the core of John Rawls's famous thought experiment, the "Veil of Ignorance."
The story uses a simple and relatable dilemma—three friends wanting to share one perfect strawberry—to pose a big question: How can we create rules that are fair for everyone?
The magical "Fog of Fairness" acts as a child-friendly version of the "Veil of Ignorance." By obscuring the prize, the fog forces the characters to devise a rule for sharing without knowing what the outcome will be for themselves. The solution they invent—"the divider chooses last"—is a classic example of this principle. The person cutting the cake will make the slices equal if they know they might receive the smallest piece.
This story gently guides children to understand that true justice isn't about getting what you want, but about creating systems where the rules are fair for all, especially if you imagine yourself in someone else's shoes.
Discussion Questions & Activities
A Note for Grown-Ups: This guide is designed to help you explore the "big idea" in The Fog of Fairness with your young thinkers. The goal is simply to start a fun conversation about what it means to be fair.
Questions About the Story
What was the special treasure the friends found in the field?
Why did they start to argue about it?
What was the magical lavender fog like? What did it do?
What was Arry's clever rule for sharing the strawberry fairly? Why did it work so well?
How did the friends feel at the end once the strawberry was shared?
Big Questions About Fairness
What does the word "fair" mean to you?
Have you ever played a game where you thought the rules weren't fair? What happened?
If you and a friend had one cookie to share, what would be the fairest way to divide it?
Why is it important for rules to be fair for everybody, not just one person?
Plato says, "Wisdom is seeing the world from many points of view, not just your own." How did the friends do that in the story?