Odd One Out - Reasoning and Critical Thinking Skills

This PowerPoint resource is designed to develop children’s reasoning and critical thinking skills through a simple yet powerful activity: looking at three pictures and deciding which one is the odd one out—and explaining why. Each slide presents a set of three images that share similarities but also have subtle differences. Children must choose the odd one out and justify their choice.

How It Works:
Each slide displays three related pictures (e.g., animals, objects, shapes).
Pupils select the image they believe doesn’t belong and explain their reasoning.
There is no single correct answer—the focus is on the quality of reasoning and discussion.

Benefits for Learning:

• Encourages Higher-Order Thinking: Children move beyond simple recognition to analyze, compare, and evaluate.
• Promotes Verbal Reasoning: Explaining choices helps develop language and communication skills.
• Supports Multiple Perspectives: Because there isn’t one “right” answer, pupils learn to respect different viewpoints and justify their own.
• Engages Curiosity: The visual nature of the task makes it fun and accessible for all learners.
• Flexible Use: Ideal for whole-class discussions, small group work, or as a starter activity to warm up thinking skills.

Why Teachers Will Love It:

• Ready-to-use PowerPoint—no prep required.
• Optional handouts with question prompts can be printed if required.
• Encourages participation and confidence in reasoning for all ability levels.
• Comes with a handout of prompts and questions to help pupils.
• 20 ‘Odd One Out’ included in the slides.