When you were younger, you learned the difference between real things and pretend things.
That was a great start. Now there's a new challenge: some things online are opinions
— things people believe or think — and they can sound just like facts.
At ages 7–9, you're ready for three buckets instead of two.
The trick is learning to tell them apart.
🪣 The three buckets
✅
VERIFIED
Something that can be checked and confirmed. Experts and evidence agree. It's the same no matter who you ask.
💭
OPINION
What someone thinks or believes. It can be thoughtful and interesting — but different people might think differently.
❌
INVENTED
Not true. Made up, wrong, or a myth that's been repeated so many times people think it's real.
The tricky one is OPINION. Opinions can sound confident and be stated strongly —
but that doesn't make them facts. "Dogs are better than cats" is an opinion.
"Dogs are the most popular pet in Canada" is a fact you can check.
Both might be said with equal confidence, but only one can be verified.
🎮 Sort these statements — which bucket?
Read each statement out loud. Before flipping for the answer, decide together: Verified, Opinion, or Invented?
You can print this page and cut the cards for an offline sorting activity.
"Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories."
VERIFIED — You can look this up in any atlas or on the Government of Canada website. It's the same everywhere.
"Pizza is the best food ever."
OPINION — Lots of people agree, but "best food" is what someone thinks. Someone else might say sushi or apples.
"If you touch a frog, you'll get warts."
INVENTED — This is a myth. Frogs don't cause warts. The myth has been around for a long time, but it's not true.
"Cats are smarter than dogs."
OPINION — Some people think cats are smarter; others disagree. "Smarter" is tricky to measure and people mean different things by it.
"Blue whales are the largest animals that have ever lived."
VERIFIED — Scientists have confirmed this. You can find it in encyclopaedias and on science websites — the same answer everywhere.
"Chocolate milk comes from brown cows."
INVENTED — This is a myth. All milk comes from cows regardless of colour; chocolate milk is regular milk with chocolate added.
No internet? No problem. This activity is fully printable — cut out the six cards and
sort them into three labelled piles. This works perfectly in library programmes, classrooms,
or at home with no device needed. Cover the answers before printing if you want children to guess first.
🔎 How to check a VERIFIED claim
Ask: can this be looked up? Verified facts can be found in books, encyclopaedias, and trusted websites — not just one person's social media post.
Look for the same answer in two places. If two different sources say the same thing, it's much more likely to be verified.
Ask a grown-up to help you navigate. Any online searching or navigation must be done with adult supervision. Never look things up alone online.
Online rule: Any time this activity suggests looking something up online,
do it with a grown-up's help — never alone. An adult helps you find safe, trustworthy sources
and can spot things that might be misleading.
🔍
The Fact-Finder Badge
Award this sticker when your child correctly identifies an opinion, spots an invented claim,
or asks "can we check that?" about something they hear or see.
Noticing the question is the whole skill.
The badge is for asking the question — not for getting the answer right every time.
🌱 Signs it's working
Your child asks "is that a fact or an opinion?" when someone says something confidently.
They notice when an opinion sounds like a fact.
They ask to check something before believing it.
They understand that being wrong isn't shameful — invented things fool adults too.
Keep it playful: The goal isn't to make children suspicious of everything.
It's to give them a habit of pausing and asking "which bucket is this?"
— especially when they're about to share something with someone else.