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Ullesthorpe Church of England Primary School

Ladybird Box

Ladybird Box Challenge

 

Some toy ladybirds are kept in this box which has 9 little square compartments.

 

Can you place six ladybirds into the box so that there are just two ladybirds in every column and every row?

 

You could try this interactivity.

 

 

Notes for Adults

 

This problem requires both spatial and number understanding. To understand the problem, the children will need to be comfortable with the idea that the 3 by 3 grid represents a top view of the nine-hole box. They will also need to be familiar with the meaning of rows and columns. The problem provides a good opportunity for developing positional language and using ordinal numbers. For example: "I put a ladybird in the middle of the second row" or "Go across three then down one". It is also a good context in which to discuss what makes one solution different from another.

 

You could place some ladybirds in the box in some way using the interactivity and invite your child to describe the positions of the ladybirds. This will give an opportunity for them to come to decide good ways to describe each 'cell' and to check the meaning of words such as 'row' and 'column'.

 

Key questions

  • How many counters/ladybirds have you in this row? In this column?
  • Which row and which column can still have a second counter/ladybird?

Possible support

You could encourage children to start by placing just four counters then seeing which row and which column have less than two counters in them.

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