You’ve probably seen a squirrel run up a tree or down the street. And if someone walked near it, it probably ran away like a scaredy-cat (or scaredy-squirrel). Amazingly, over 100 years ago lots of people kept squirrels as pets! Artists even painted paintings of a child sitting with their furry grey friend, often on a tiny leash (the squirrel, not the kid). But squirrels have sharp claws, hide things, and freak out really easily, so what was that like to own one? The pet problems add up!
Wee ones: Who has more legs, you or a squirrel? How many more?
Little kids: If you have 5 nut candy bars, and your pet squirrel Squeakers hides 1 of them, how many candy bars do you have left? Bonus: If Squeakers also hid 18 acorns and 21 Legos in the backyard, which item did he hide more of?
Big kids: Squeakers also loves clawing the edges of your bedroom rug (great – that’s really helpful). If your rug is a rectangle 8 feet long and 5 feet wide, how much total edge is there to claw? Bonus: If Squeakers also wants 1/2 the rug’s area to hide stuff under it, how many square feet is that?
Answers:
Wee ones: The squirrel has more. 4 legs is 2 more than your 2 legs.
Little kids: 4 candy bars. Bonus: Squeakers hid more Legos than acorns.
Big kids: 26 feet (8+8+5+5). Bonus: 20 square feet is half of the 8 x 5 = 40 square feet.
