Mystery Jars: Make Your Own: Estimating and Counting

Add to list Go to activity
Learners make a counting/estimating jar to exchange with friends or bring home. Each learner fills a clear plastic cup with small objects such as beads or pennies and keeps count of exactly how many are in the cup. Others have to estimate how many are in the cup. Younger learners use larger objects, so only up to about 15 fill the cup; older ones can use smaller objects, so 50 or more fill the cup. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
Under 5 minutes
Learning Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
1 cent - $1 per student
Age Range:
Ages 4 - 14
Resource Types:
Activity, Game
Language:
English

Materials List (per student)

  • clear plastic cups, about 8 oz
  • rubber bands
  • plastic wrap
  • objects for filling cups, such as beads, pasta, pompoms
  • scrap paper and pencils

Keywords

Subjects

  • Mathematics
    • Geometry
      • Solid Geometry
    • Measurement
      • Units of Measurement
      • Size and Scale
    • Number and Operations
      • Multiples and Factors
      • Number Systems
      • Operations
    • Reasoning and Proof
  • The Nature of Technology
    • The Design Process
      • Problem Solving
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Asking Questions
      • Formulating Explanations
      • Communicating Results

Informal Categories

  • Arts and Crafts
  • Games

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Source Collection

  • Mixing in Math

Rights:

  • , © 2010, TERC, Inc., MA., 2010

Funding Source:

  • NSF, ESI-0406675 and DRL-0713537