Chocolate Fix
How it works
Imagine that you have 4 pieces of chocolate:
- A brown circle
- A white circle
- A brown triangle
- A white triangle
Your goal is to place these 4 pieces into a 2 x 2 box, one piece in each of the 4 squares of the box. But you can't just place them however you want — you're trying to find a secret arrangement! You're given clues — partial pictures of the box with information about the colors and shapes of the pieces that go in some of the squares — that you can use to help figure out the secret arrangement.
In this activity, students start by exploring a variety of different 2 x 2 puzzles. They then move on to 3 x 3 puzzles, where there a 9 pieces — there's a new color (pink) and a new shape (square) — to be placed in a 3 x 3 box.
Why we like this activity
- It’s fun! Students enjoy solving the puzzles.
- It helps students to develop logical reasoning.
- It helps students to develop spatial reasoning.
- It has a low floor and a high ceiling: It's easy for students to start solving puzzles, but as the puzzles increase in complexity and difficulty, students need to reason more carefully and strategically.
