This week in our problem-solving lesson, we dived into a fun, math-filled journey using an old favourite playground rhyme:
“Ip dip sky blue! Who’s ‘it’? It’s you!”
What We Explored: Children often use rhymes like this to decide who will be “it” in games, moving around a circle of friends until they land on the final person. This got us thinking: What if you want to know who’ll be “it” before even starting the rhyme? Is there a way to predict it?
In class, we investigated this question—and then took it to the playground to test our ideas in real-time! The children loved experimenting with different starting points and seeing if their predictions matched up.
Our Questions:
- If there are just two players, how could you ensure you’re the one chosen as “it”?
- We discovered that with two people, you can make sure you’re “it” by always starting the rhyme pointing at yourself!
- What if there are three players? Or four, or five?
- For larger groups, we explored how you might position yourself to always be chosen as “it.” We noticed that the rhyme followed a pattern, and we could use some clever thinking to find it!
Our Discoveries: For each number of players, we practiced and played with different positions, noticing that it followed a cycle or pattern. We started thinking about strategies and making predictions based on the number of friends in the circle.
Why This Was Fun (and Sneakily Mathematical!): By working through this activity, we practiced basic counting, learned about patterns, and even began to understand a bit about sequences – all in a playful way!
Take a look at some snapshots from today’s problem-solving lesson! The children had a fantastic time exploring math patterns out on the playground, actively working together to solve the “Ip Dip Sky Blue” mystery.
“If you play with two people and you want to be ‘it’ than you need to start with the other person.” Md Hamza
“If there is 3 people and you want to be ‘it’ than you have to start in the middle.” Afif
“If there is 4 people and you want to be ‘it’ than you have to start with the fourth person.” Arfah
“If there is 5 people and you want to be ‘it’ than you have to start with the fourth person I think. I’m not sure. I will check at home.” Arfah
Why Not Try It at Home?
Ask your child to play a quick game with you and practice predicting the “it” person using our rhyme. They might surprise you with their new math-based “superpower!”
This lesson showed us how even the simplest games and rhymes can have hidden math in them, helping us sharpen our thinking and problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging way.
Sometimes, the simplest games hold the greatest mysteries. Today, we uncovered patterns, shared laughs, and found the math hidden in every ‘Ip Dip Sky Blue’ rhyme!