Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

'Butterfly Cards' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/

Show menu


Four children were sharing a set of twenty-four butterfly cards. It looked easy! They could have six each.
But it was far from easy!

the butterfly cards


First Kim said, "I like the ones with curly antennae. I want those!"
"I don't like the ones with oval heads," complained Wim, "But want all the others!"
Jim only wanted the ones with yellow spots.
Tim wanted butterflies which only had dark wings and blue spots.
"You can't have two things," complained Jim, "That's greedy! You'll get more cards!"
Do you think he was right?

Are there any cards that nobody wants?
Are there any cards that all the children want?
Are there any cards that just one child wants?
Can all the children have the cards they want?

Can you think of a fair way for them to share out the cards?

You might like to print off an A4 copy of the cards.