Name the children
Can you find out in which order the children are standing in this
line?
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Problem
Eight children from Blue Class were ready for games early. Their names, in alphabetical order, were Ali, Baxter, Chris, Danny, Ella, Fred, Greta and Helen. They stood (not in alphabetical order) by the edge of the field watching Red Class playing football.
Can you name the children using the five clues below?
Image
1. Ella and Fred have fair hair.
2. Ali, Baxter and Greta have black hair.
3. Ali, Chris, Danny, Ella and Fred all have special red shirts for games.
4. Baxter and Ella are taller than the others.
5. Ali, Chris and Helen are shorter than the others.
Getting Started
You could call the children by the first letter of their names - A, B, C etc
How about sketching out the line of children (eight blobs will do!)?
You could write possible letters above or below each child until you have found out exactly who each one is.
Student Solutions
Many of you sent in your answer to this problem, but very few of you told us how you did the problem. Remember, it is important to tell us what you did to solve the challenge so that someone else could follow it if they were stuck. Georgie C from St George's School did send us details:
I started by writing down all the features the anonymous children had (i.e child 1 has black hair and a green top) and wrote down all the possible names each child could have.
The first clue said that Ella and Fred had fair hair. I crossed off the names Ella and Fred leaving me with 2 fair headed children who were going to be Fred and Ella. As one is a girl's name and another a boy's, it was easy to tell which name belonged to who.
Next, it said Ali, Baxter and Greta have black hair meaning that the 3 black haired children were Ali, Baxter and Greta but you don't know which is which.
The next clue tells us that Ali, Chris and Danny have red game shirts. We have already worked out who Ella and Fred are, leaving us with Ali, Chris and Danny. In the previous clue it said that Ali was a child with black hair and as there is only one child with a red t-shirt and black hair, this must be Ali.
In the fourth clue it tells us that Baxter and Ella are taller than the others. We know who Ella is, leaving Baxter to be the other person which then means Greta is the one with black hair at the start of the line.
The final clue says that Ali, Chris and Helen are smaller than the rest. We know who Ali is, leaving Chris and Helen. It said earlier that Chris wore a red t-shirt leaving the other small person to be Helen.
Finally, Chris has to be the smaller one out of him and Danny leaving you with the following line up:
GRETA CHRIS BAXTER DANNY ALI FRED ELLA HELEN
Well done, Georgie. Well explained solutions were also sent in by Azure from Hanoi International School and Plum from Ardingly College Junior School.
Teachers' Resources
Name the Children
Eight children from Blue Class were ready for games early. Their names, in alphabetical order, were Ali, Baxter, Chris, Danny, Ella, Fred, Greta and Helen. They stood (not in alphabetical order) by the edge of the field watching Red Class playing football.
Can you name the children using the five clues below?
Image
1. Ella and Fred have fair hair.
2. Ali, Baxter and Greta have black hair.
3. Ali, Chris, Danny, Ella and Fred all have special red shirts for games.
4. Baxter and Ella are taller than the others.
5. Ali, Chris and Helen are shorter than the others.
Why do this problem?
The idea of this problem is for children to adopt a systematic approach to the order in which they can use the information. They will need to prioritise the clues which immediately help them to name a child and then move on to the clues which are perhaps more ambiguous, gradually narrowing down the
options.
As the hints suggest, having a way to record their thinking will be vital. This photocopiable sheet might be useful.
Key questions
How are you going to record what you have done?
Why don't you could call the children by the first letter of their names - A, B, C etc?
What about sketching out the line of children?
Why don't you write all the possible letters by each child until you have found out exactly who each one is?