| While working on another post, Two, Four, Six, Eight- Are You Really Special or Do You Just Think You’re Great? I ran across this activity shared by Sarah Carter of Math Equals Love. Sarah freely shares her lessons, and when I reached out to see if she would share with us here- she agreed! Thank you, Sarah, for generously sharing your resources! You can find her original post HERE. |
This Happy Numbers Activity is a fun lesson that introduces students to the concept of happy numbers and sad numbers. I have used this activity with students of various ages. Any student who understands how to square single digits and can do simple addition can participate in this happy numbers fun!
I originally ran across happy numbers when I had one of those days after state testing when I needed to fill class time but still wanted to engage students in some mathematical thinking. I actually ended up giving this activity to students without trying it out myself. It turns out to be an amazing activity that I have done with many students and presented to teachers in workshops/training.
The thought of having to complete this process for 100 numbers sounds SCARY, INTENSE, NEVER-ENDING. There has to be a shortcut, right??? There is. Just don’t tell your students what it is. Let them discover it for themselves.
Free Download – Happy Numbers Worksheet
As you can, see this activity definitely kept my students BUSY!
But, it kept them more than just busy. It sparked great conversations and great thinking. I did have to urge a few students to seek out a shortcut because they were working on each number individually. But, most of my students found the shortcut on their own.
“This is depressing. So many sad numbers. Why can’t all the numbers be happy?”
“Since we are squaring the numbers, I wonder if there’s a shortcut to determine if they are happy or sad by taking the square root.”
“Ooh! Changing the order of the digits doesn’t actually change the problem. If 19 is happy, 91 has to be happy!”
This activity is a definite keeper!
See also: Two, Four, Six, Eight – Are You Really Special or Do You Just Think You’re Great?