How many in the box?
Digit Dog is playing a game with Calculating Cat. He has 6 tree decorations and has hidden some of them in his box. Calculating Cat has to work out how many he has hidden.
Calculating Cat is thinking about the Numicon® shape to help her work out how many are in the box.
- She knows the whole is 6 – that’s the number of decorations Digit Dog had to start with.
- She knows one of the parts is 3 – that’s the number of decorations not in the box.
- Now she can work out the unknown part – that’s the number of decorations in the box – by thinking about the spaces in the Numicon® shape.
She could have solved the problem by using number bonds. If she knows 3 + 3 = 6, she can work out the missing number.
What if………
……….Digit Dog put a different number of decorations in the box?
………..he had more decorations to start with? Fewer decorations?
Try out the game for yourself. One person hides objects in a box, their partner works out how many are hidden. Remember to explain how you work it out.