Life is so diverse, you never know what might come your way as you go through each day. This week, we have a mixed bag of word problems to help children apply mathematical knowledge to a variety of situations.

Read the problems below and choose the one that’s the right skill level for your child. Have them give it a try. And when they feel they’ve found the answer, check their solution against ours on the next page.

Questions

Lower Elementary:
Question: Lily has a number of 2-cup jello molds, a number of 3-cup jello molds, and 14 cups of jello. Which size mold should Lily use if she wants all of her jello desserts to be the same size without leaving any jello unused?

Upper Elementary:
Question: A frog eats half of the flies around a pond. A toad eats a third of the remaining flies. What fractional part of the flies are left at the pond?

Middle School:
Question: Evan forgets to put the stopper in the drain as he fills up his bath tub, then walks away from the bathroom. The water pours out of the faucet at a rate of 24 gallons per minute. The drain empties the tub at a rate of 6 gallons per minute. If the tub holds 60 gallons, then how long will it be before the tub overflows?

Algebra and Up:
Question: Decode the cipher to solve the problem.
VDOOB  KDV  WZR  DSSOHV.  WLPPB  KDV  ILYH  DSSOHV.  KRZ  PDQB  PRUH  DSSOHV  WKDQ  VDOOB  GRHV  WLPPB  KDYH?