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Place value sweet factory
Use this widget to explore the value of numbers, including ones, tens, hundreds and thousands. There are two modes you can select in the header bar:
Duration mode
Enable children to appreciate the size of numbers by converting a numeral into a quantity of Busythings Fun Gums! Set a number in the digit pad and press Go. The factory process will play out to give a sense of how big the number is. You can speed up the machine with the buttons that appear and drag the playhead to skip to any part in the process.
Quantity mode
This simply displays the number you enter in its numerical form alongside the sweets without watching them fill up.
Other master controls appear in the header bar.
Discussion points
- What happens when the ones column reaches 9?
- What happens when you cross 100 sweets?
- What would one more/one less be?
- What do you notice about the time it takes to make a larger number, like 68?
- What do you notice about the time it takes to make a smaller number, like 12?
- What does each number in the columns represent?
- What happens when you cross 100 sweets?
- What is the same/different about the number displayed in columns and as sweets?
- How else could you represent this number?
- What happens if there are no ones?
- What does each number in the columns represent?
- What would 10 more/10 less be?
- What would 100 more/ less be?
- How could you partition this number?
- How else could you represent this number?
- What happens if there are no tens?
- What is the value of each digit?
- How else could you represent this number?
- Can you write the number in words?
- A packet of Fun Gums contains 10 sweets and is 10 times bigger than 1 Fun Gum.
- A multipack box of Fun Gums contains 10 packets or 100 sweets. It is 10 times bigger than a packet and 100 times bigger than 1 Fun Gum.
- A retailer's pack contains 10 multipacks or 100 packets or 1000 sweets! It is 10 times bigger than a multipack, 100 times bigger than a packet and 1000 times bigger than 1 Fun Gum.
Teaching tips:
Use this widget to support number and place value learning:
Use the place value sweet factory on ‘quantity mode’ to increase or decrease the numbers and see what happens to the sweets and numerals when you bridge the tens.
Display a one or two-digit number in ‘quantity mode’ and ask children what one more/one less would be and how they know. Pair with ‘Rollercoaster - More or less?’, or ‘Number gym’.
Recognise place value in numbers beyond 20 by watching the packs fill up in ‘duration mode’ to fully understand the value of each number.
Use the place value sweet factory on ‘quantity mode’ to increase or decrease the numbers and see what happens to the sweets and numerals when you bridge the tens.
Display a one or two-digit number in ‘quantity mode’ and ask children what one more/one less would be and how they know. Pair with ‘Rollercoaster - More or less?’, or ‘Number gym’.
Recognise place value in numbers beyond 20 by watching the packs fill up in ‘duration mode’ to fully understand the value of each number.
Use this widget to support number and place value learning:
Watch the packs fill up in ‘duration mode’ to fully understand the value of each number. Ask children to explain what each number represents in ‘quantity mode’, they could then represent the number in different ways, for example, by using Dienes or place value counters.
Ask children to make a greater/smaller number than the one shown. Pair with ‘Numerical order: numbers up to 99’ or ‘Ordering tall things’ to solve problems involving place value.
This activity also exposes children to seeing 0 being used as a place holder.
Watch the packs fill up in ‘duration mode’ to fully understand the value of each number. Ask children to explain what each number represents in ‘quantity mode’, they could then represent the number in different ways, for example, by using Dienes or place value counters.
Ask children to make a greater/smaller number than the one shown. Pair with ‘Numerical order: numbers up to 99’ or ‘Ordering tall things’ to solve problems involving place value.
This activity also exposes children to seeing 0 being used as a place holder.
Use this widget to support number and place value learning:
In ‘quantity mode’, ask children what each number represents and get them to show the same number using manipulatives, such as Dienes or place value counters in part-whole models.
Pair with all the activities in the ‘Comparing and ordering’ folder to use place value knowledge to solve number and practical problems.
Concentrate on the thousand column to see the effect of changing this on the number of sweets shown.
In ‘quantity mode’, ask children what each number represents and get them to show the same number using manipulatives, such as Dienes or place value counters in part-whole models.
Pair with all the activities in the ‘Comparing and ordering’ folder to use place value knowledge to solve number and practical problems.
Concentrate on the thousand column to see the effect of changing this on the number of sweets shown.
Use this widget to support number and place value learning:
Pair this activity with the ‘Place value’ widget for children to extend their understanding of the number system by looking at place value in larger numbers and decimal numbers.
The ‘duration mode’ setting reinforces the value of each digit whilst ‘quantity mode’ can be used to count forwards or backwards in steps of powers of 10. Discuss which digits will change and which ones won’t and get children to explain how they know.
Pair with all the activities in the ‘Comparing and ordering’ folder to use place value knowledge to solve number and practical problems.
Pair this activity with the ‘Place value’ widget for children to extend their understanding of the number system by looking at place value in larger numbers and decimal numbers.
The ‘duration mode’ setting reinforces the value of each digit whilst ‘quantity mode’ can be used to count forwards or backwards in steps of powers of 10. Discuss which digits will change and which ones won’t and get children to explain how they know.
Pair with all the activities in the ‘Comparing and ordering’ folder to use place value knowledge to solve number and practical problems.
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