Traffic Jam

       

X

       

Using wide painters tape, block off a row of (three, five, seven, nine, etc) squares big enough for the students to stand inside. Place a large X in the center square. Have the students stand in teams on each side of the X square. The goal is for each team to "trade" sides. It helps if the teams are wearing the same color shirts or some type of colored item to distinguish them.

Rules:
1. Each frog can only jump forward (never backwards).
2. Each frog can only jump into an empty square directly in front of it, OR jump one frog of the opposite color into an empty square.

Begin with one frog on each side -- the trivial case. Have the students work out how the frogs should move to trade places. Record the number of jumps on the table. Then have two frogs on each team work out how to move and record the number of jumps. Work up through three, four, etc on each team and record the results. Have students look at the pattern in the number of jumps required for the teams to change places.