Nutty Mixture

This problem is a good introduction to ratio and can be used to emphasise the language of "for every". Having counters or cubes (representing the nuts) to manipulate in an introduction will help demonstrate this "for every" idea - for example, you could physically group each cashew nut with two peanuts. At first children might need to use equipment to solve the problem or they should be encouraged to draw sketches. If appropriate, a plenary could address how the solution could be reached using mental calculations.