This problem encourages children to work in a systematic way
and is a good context in which to share different ways of recording
solutions. It can be done practically with pupils being the frogs
which makes it an appealing and intriguing problem.
Key questions
What move can you make first?
How will you remember what you have done?
Is there only one way that the frogs can swap places?
Possible extension
The interactivity in
this extended version of the challenge can be used to introduce
more frogs and to find the minimum number of moves for them to swap
places.
Possible support
Using counters to represent the frogs with five circles drawn
on a sheet of paper for the lily pads will help some children make
a start on this problem.