Today we celebrate a very important person’s birthday: Cookie Monster. Well, OK, he isn’t exactly a person, but he wins the prize for being absolutely the least picky eater we know. Cookie Monster will eat anything he can stuff inside his furry mouth. Sure, he loves cookies, and is probably a big part of the 20 million Oreos eaten worldwide each day, among other things. But he may also like to eat other popular items. Let’s celebrate the day by taking a look at Cookie Monster’s diet — we might get some new ideas for dinner.
Wee ones: If Cookie Monster eats 4 fuzzy slippers, a toilet plunger and a desk chair, how many items did Cookie have for lunch?
Little kids: If Cookie Monster comes over for a playdate, and he eats 14 cookies while you eat 2, how many did you eat together? Bonus: If he talks you into eating 4 tennis balls while you’re at it, now how many snack items did you guys eat altogether?
Big kids: About 20 million Oreos are eaten every day. If 1/4 as many Chips Ahoy cookies are eaten every day, how many Chips Ahoys get eaten every day? Bonus: It’s quite possible that Cookie Monster eats 1/5 of those Oreos himself. If that’s the case, how many does he eat in a 30-day month?
Answers:
Wee ones: 6 lunch items.
Little kids: 16 cookies. Bonus: 20 snack items.
Big kids: 5 million Chips Ahoy per day. Bonus: 120 million Oreos.
Laura Bilodeau Overdeck is founder and president of Bedtime Math Foundation. Her goal is to make math as playful for kids as it was for her when she was a child. Her mom had Laura baking before she could walk, and her dad had her using power tools at a very unsafe age, measuring lengths, widths and angles in the process. Armed with this early love of numbers, Laura went on to get a BA in astrophysics from Princeton University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business; she continues to star-gaze today. Laura’s other interests include her three lively children, chocolate, extreme vehicles, and Lego Mindstorms.