Doughnut percents

This activity is designed to be tackled in teams of four or five, but can also be completed individually. For more information on how this can be done in teams, take a look at the teachers' resources.

These printable domino cards can be put together to make four 'doughnuts' of four dominoes. The ends of dominoes which join together need to have equal value. 

For example, a doughnut could look like this:

Image

Have a go at making the four doughnuts. What do you notice?

Once you've made four doughnuts, you might like to try using the same set of cards to make two large doughnuts instead, with eight dominoes in each doughnut. 

Is it possible to make one very large doughnut, using all sixteen cards? And if it is possible, is there more than one way of doing this? How do you know?