Could birds pick you up and fly with you? Well, birds come in all sizes, and some have stronger wings than others. A tiny swallow can probably carry only about 1 ounce. If you weigh 60 pounds, you’d need 960 swallows to pick you up! On the other hand, the harpy eagle can carry 20 pounds, so you’d need only 3 eagles. Do the math to find out how many pet birds you’ll need!
Wee ones: If 8 hawks pick you up, what numbers would you say to count them?
Little kids: If 3 harpy eagles pick you up and fly you around, how many wings do they have as a group? Bonus: How many more legs than wings in the group? (Don’t forget to count yourself!)
Big kids: If an eagle can lift 20 pounds, at least how many eagles does it take to pick you up? (It doesn’t need to work out exactly — just make sure they can carry you!) Bonus: How many little sparrows could pick you up if each sparrow can carry 1 ounce? (Reminder: A pound has 16 ounces.)
The sky’s the limit — literally: If it takes either 20 geese to pick you up or 30 ducks, how many geese does it take to pick up a person that 120 ducks can lift?
Answers:
Wee ones: 1 ,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Little kids: 6 wings. Bonus: 2 more legs than wings. You can either subtract 6 from 8, or just remember that you add 2 legs but no wings to the group.
Big kids: Different for everyone…find the closest multiple of 20 just above your weight in pounds, then divide by 20. Bonus: Also different for you all…take your weight in pounds and multiply by 16, which gives you the total ounces and also the total number of sparrows.
The sky’s the limit: 80 geese. Every 30 ducks match 20 geese, and 120 ducks have 4 of those sets of 30. So you need 4 sets of 20 geese, or 80 geese.
