Who ever said that mathematics can't be fun?? This problem solving activity certainly was. We used special offer leaflets from the shop to decide what items we could buy for a class party. We had to decide our own groupings and had a budget of £2 per person to work with. There was a lot of discussion and decision making about what items were really important and what were not. Compromise was needed on more than one occasion. When we had calculated if we had enough money for the chosen items, off we headed to the shop with our carrier bags (to save not only the environment but our budgets). Cathy and Aileen were waiting excitedly for us and the fun began. We encountered a few problems with items we thought were on offer that actually weren't on offer until the following week. We had to think on our feet and use our mental math skills to calculate the new costs. When we had the shopping done it was party time. We divided our stash of goodies fairly and a bit of trading between groups went on also. The best maths lesson ever!
