Giants: a valley at 1:100 scale
MICRO·MACRO · Kit 1 · Gegants
Doctor Mida's Scalimeter has exploded and the team is now a hundred times bigger. A storm is coming, the dam is broken and the village needs giants who know how to measure.
Illustrative imageThe story
«Hello, apprentices! I'm Doctor Mida. My Scalimeter has exploded… and now you're a hundred times bigger!» The team is standing over a valley at a 1:100 scale: one centimeter of theirs is one real meter. A storm is coming and the dam is broken.
The mayor is on top of the bell tower, and he speaks very quietly. To save the village, the giants will have to listen, rescue, measure and calculate. At the end the turbine spins, the village has light again and the team recovers the first lens of the Scalimeter.
Measuring for real
Every game uses one of several variants of the reservoir and the river, so the answer cannot be memorized and the hints do not give the numbers away: the team has to measure with the rulers and work it out.
Kits 1 to 5 of the collection form a story: the five lenses of Doctor Mida's Scalimeter.
Phases of the kit
The mayor's whisper
Someone has to pick up the mayor very carefully and bring him to their ear. He explains that six neighbors are trapped on rooftops, and that player has to tell the rest of the team.
Rescue by contour lines
The neighbors must be taken to high ground, above the red 30-meter contour line. Pointing at the ground with a finger shows its height.
The reservoir
The storm will bring a set volume of water (for example 20,000 m³). The team measures the length and width of the basin with the rulers, works out the height on the calculation board and carries the right wall between two people. Too low, and the water overflows; too high, and stone was wasted.
The bridge
The river has washed the bridge away. The team measures the river where the bridge was and chooses the beam that is long enough but still fits between the houses.
Light and the first lens
The turbine spins, the village has light again and the team grabs the lens glowing above the bell tower.
Short version (11 min): without the bridge. On the hard level, the storm volume is given in liters and has to be converted to m³.
What students learn
- Scale: reading a 1:100 model, where 1 cm equals 1 m.
- Contour lines and height on a map.
- Volume of a prism (length × width × height) and conversion between liters and cubic meters.
- Estimating lengths and checking them with a ruler.
- Making sense of big numbers: 20,000 m³ is about 8 Olympic swimming pools.
- Communication: only one player hears the mayor and has to pass on the message.
Curriculum fit
Designed for ages 10 to 14, in math (measurement, scale, volume) and in Earth and space topics (maps and contour lines), from upper primary to the first years of secondary school. The three levels let you adapt it to the group. We do not assign official curriculum codes here.
What a session looks like
- ~5 min
Calibration
Each player stands on the floor mark and calibrates; the facilitator chooses the level and the version on the PC.
- ~1 min
Doctor Mida
The guide explains what happened to the Scalimeter and the scale of the valley.
- 11–20 min
The kit
Mayor, rescue, reservoir and, in the full version, the bridge.
- ~3 min
Summary
The PC shows how many neighbors were saved, the reservoir result and the time.
Teacher's guide
Before
Look at a map with contour lines and at a model or plan with a scale. Review the volume formula.
During
Watch whether the group really measures or guesses, and how they share the calculation board.
After
Repeat the reservoir calculation with other measurements, convert the volume into swimming pools or liters, or draw the valley's contour lines on paper.
Frequently asked questions
What age is the Giants kit for?
For ages 10 to 14. The easy, normal and hard levels adapt the challenge.
How long does it last?
About 20 minutes; the short version, without the bridge, takes about 11.
Can it be combined with other kits?
Yes. It is the first of the five lenses of the Scalimeter story, and it can be chained with other kits in the same session.
Want to try the Giants kit with your group?
We run demos for school leadership teams, education authorities, VR centers and distributors.