When a House Barges In

Why is that house on a boat on a river? Because it’s easier to move in water than on land! A family found a 250-year old house they loved, but it was in the wrong place. It took 4 nights to get the house 6 miles through town, but once it was on the barge (a type of boat), it only took 2 hours to float 50 miles. Let’s hope the toilets are still working.

Wee ones: Look at the picture. How many windows can you count on the house?

Little kids: If 6 fish jumped into the house for every hour it was on the river, how many fish are in the house after 2 hours of floating? Bonus: If the house was moving during 4 days this week and arrived on Thursday, on what day did it start the trip?

Big kids: How much older is a 250-year old house than you? (Hint: what if the house was only 50 years old?) Bonus: Unlike the picture, the real house in this story was made of bricks. If each brick weighs 5 pounds, how many bricks are in the 800,000-pound house? (To start, how many bricks are in 10 pounds? Then 100?…)

The sky’s the limit: A crocodile weighs about 1 ton, which is 2,000 pounds. How many crocs match the weight of that 800,000-pound house?

Answers:

Wee ones: We count 7 windows – 4 on the 1st floor, and 3 on the 2nd!

Little kids: 12 fish, because 6 + 6 = 12. Bonus: On Monday (Mon, Tues, Weds, Thurs = 4 days).

Big kids: Different for everyone… subtract your age from 250. You can subtract your age from 50, then add 200! Bonus: 160,000 bricks. There are 20 5-pound bricks in 100 pounds, so there are 200 in 1,000, and then you have 800 sets of that. So we do 200 x 800 = 160,000.

The sky’s the limit: 400 crocs. 2 thousand goes into 800 thousand the same number of times as 2 into 800.

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