Twist in the Tale: Monkey Makes UNEQUAL Division

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There is an age-old tale from India about a monkey and two cats. The two cats fight over butter and while pretending to make the equal division the monkey eats up all the butter. (If you are not familiar with this tale, see here for Hindi/English.) This tale is perfect starting point to learn about even-odd numbers and equal divisions. So, the sequel to the original story goes like this…

Main Plot:

The monkey is now transformed and likes to genuinely help others. One day, the monkey sees two children fighting over the toffees. When he offers to help them, the children say “We know all about how you cheated the cats. So, we don’t want your help”. The monkey finally convinces them to let him help. And the children deposit all their toffees with the monkey. The monkey is able to divide them equally if it’s an even number. When an odd number is encountered, the monkey takes away one candy and then divides equally. And so, the concept of remainder is introduced. ๐Ÿ˜€





Tips for Enacting the Story:

  • Start with the small even number for beginners.
  • It’s great to have some physical toffees (pom-poms/marbles) and two bowls to make the division easier.
  • Once the division in two equal parts is mastered, the story can easily progress to three/four/five equal parts by introducing more children.
  • Use the number cards to decide the total number of toffees.

  • It is advisable that one of the children acts as monkey. If none of them wishes to be the monkey, then the director (you!) can deliberately make the mistakes ๐Ÿ˜†while doing division so that children will actively learn the early divisions.

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P.S.: If you try this activity, don't forget to tell your experience ๐Ÿ˜€

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