Example 1
How many legs do 3 cows and 4 hens have?
- Cows: 3 × 4 = 12.
- Hens: 4 × 2 = 8.
- 12 + 8 = 20.
Answer: 20
🦘 Kangaroo Grade 3 · session 8 of 24 · 60 minutes · ⭐ Plus
Legs, heads and animals
A farm has 8 heads and 22 legs: how many rabbits? Learn the 'pretend they are all hens' trick, sharing with remainders and age puzzles, the word problems that appear in every Kangaroo paper.
A complete lesson · 60 minutes
Teach it, see it, practise it, all on this page.
Open this page with your learner and work down it, or press Teach this lesson to go through it one step at a time on a big screen. Every section has something to do.
- Warm-up4 min
- Legs8 min
- Heads and legs9 min
- Sharing7 min
- Ages7 min
- Activity 17 min
- Activity 27 min
- Activity 36 min
- Quiz4 min
- Set the project1 min
By the end you can
- Count legs of mixed animals
- Solve heads-and-legs puzzles by pretending all are the same
- Decide when to round up or down after dividing
- Solve age puzzles: everyone gets older together
Before you start
- Times tables to 10
- Dividing with a remainder
Have ready
- Paper and pencil
- Counters to stand for animals
Grade 3 · ages 8 to 9 · contest level 3–4
Warm-up · think first
A farmer has hens and cows. You count 5 heads and 14 legs. How many cows are there?
Show the answer
2 cows. If all 5 were hens there would be 10 legs. Each cow adds 2 extra legs, and there are 4 extra, so 2 cows.
Teacher tip: Let them draw 5 heads with 2 legs each, then add legs until there are 14.
Part 1 of 4 · learn, see, practise
Counting legs
Hens and ducks have 2 legs, cats, dogs and cows 4, insects like ants and beetles 6, and spiders 8.
Multiply for each kind of animal, then add the kinds together.
Example 2
How many legs do a spider and 2 beetles have?
- Spider: 8.
- Beetles: 2 × 6 = 12.
- 8 + 12 = 20.
Answer: 20
Practise it
Start with the warm-up and go as far as you can. The stretch questions are meant to be hard.
Warm-up
Warm-up
Core
Core
Stretch 🔥
Stretch 🔥
Answers (for the teacher)
- 10
- 16
- 50
- 18
- 9
- 3
⭐ Part of Pure Faith Plus
The rest of this lesson is in Plus
Already have Plus? Log in and the whole lesson opens.
You have seen the plan, the warm-up and part 1. With Plus you also get:
- Part 2: Heads and legs, with practice at three levels
- Part 3: Sharing and grouping, with practice at three levels
- Part 4: Ages, with practice at three levels
- Class activity 1: Farm detective
- Class activity 2: School trip
- Class activity 3: Age machine
- A 8-question quiz
- After-class project: My farm puzzle book
- Homework and a printable practice sheet with answers
- Teach mode and the minute-by-minute teacher's plan
The first 2 lessons of every course, every game and all maths practice stay free.
That is ₹208 a month for every lesson of every course. Prefer a teacher? Ask about live classes.
FAQ
Legs, heads and animals: questions
How do you solve heads and legs problems?
Pretend all the animals are the kind with fewer legs, count the legs that are missing, and divide by the difference in legs per animal.
What word problems are in Math Kangaroo Grade 3?
Counting legs and wheels, sharing with remainders, ages, money and working backwards.
When do you round up a division answer?
When everyone or everything must fit, like children in cars or eggs in boxes you must buy.
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