Cookie Factory
How it works
You’ve been hired by a craft dessert store packaging gift sets of cookies. A gift set comes with four boxes of cookies: a box with one cookie, a box with two cookies, a box with three cookies, and a box with four cookies. Additionally, the cookies you’re packing come in different colors, and if any two boxes contain the same color of cookie, they must have the same amount of that color.
How many colors do you need to fill all four boxes using this rule? How many colors would you need as the number of boxes increases?
Why we like this activity:
It’s fun! Students enjoy the challenge and playing with the colorful manipulatives.
It helps to develop algorithmic reasoning.
It requires students to engage in mathematical habits of mind:
Finding and using strategies to use as few colors as possible to fill your boxes.
Finding similarities and differences between the numbers of colors needed to fill different numbers of boxes.
Looking for patterns in the relationship between the number of boxes and smallest number of colors needed to fill them.
Making and testing predictions about whether increasing the number of boxes means an additional color is needed.
It has a low floor and a high ceiling: Students can start exploring by using trial and error, but as the number of boxes increases, students need to develop a more strategic approach.
To find out more about our approach to math and math education, click here.