The Three Cold Kittens

The Problem

Winter has set in. The three little kittens are very cold and they need mittens. Mother Cat decided to make mittens. It takes two balls of wool to make mittens for one kitten. How many balls of wool will Mother Cat need to make mittens for three little kittens?

Mother Cat went shopping to buy balls of wool. One ball of wool costs $1. How much money will mother cat have to spent to buy all the wool she needs?

Teaching Sequence

1. Introduce this problem by reading the poem "3 little kittens who lost their mittens"
2. Pose the problem to the class.
3. Ask the children to identify the important information given in the problem.
4. Brainstorm for ways to solve the problem.
5. As the children work on the problem ask them to explain the strategy they are using:
   Tell me what you are doing?
   How is that helping you solve the problem?
6. Share the solutions.

Other Contexts

Socks or any other garment that comes in pairs can be used.

Solution

One way to do this problem is to represent each cat by a closed loop and to draw two marks for the balls of wool. Once this is done the children only have to count the ‘wool’ marks. They should find that six balls of wool are needed. If each ball of wool costs $1, then one dollar is needed for each ball of wool. So Mother Cat needs $6.