When You Wish Upon A Fluff - Bedtime Math

Skip to contentWhen You Wish Upon a Fluff

You know those round, white fluffs that you blow into the air to make a wish? They’re called “dandelions” (French for “lion’s tooth”). The starting flower is yellow and cute, but watch out – dandelions are weeds that steal water from our grass. Each flower holds up to 400 seeds, which can sail up to 5 miles. Luckily, dandelion leaves taste good in salad – so we can bite back!

Wee ones: If you have 7 yellow dandelions and 4 white fluffy dandelions, of which kind do you have more?

Little kids: If 1 dandelion seed sails 5 miles in one direction, and another seed flies 5 miles in the opposite direction, what’s the farthest apart they can land?  Bonus: If each time you blow on a dandelion you blow 5 seeds free, how many wishes does it take to blow 20 seeds away? Count up by 5s!

Big kids: Dandelions can have up to 400 seeds, but they usually have around 180. How many more seeds does a mega-fluffy 400-seed dandelion have than the usual?  Bonus: If you blow off 300 seeds, and each of those makes a new flower that sends off 300 seeds, how many seeds sail off in that 2nd round? (Hint if needed: what if each of the 300 sent off just 3 seeds…then what if each sent off 30 seeds instead…then how about 300?)

Answers: Wee ones: More yellow dandelions.

Little kids: 10 miles apart.  Bonus: 4 wishes: 5, 10, 15, 20.

Big kids: 220 seeds.  Bonus: 90,000 seeds!

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