The Fairy At The Bottom of the Garden

The Fairy At The Bottom of My Garden complained to the garden gnome,

You've just squashed my mushroom - go find somewhere else to make a home !". The fairy said that it just wasn't neighbourly, to behave to noisily. The fairy then moaned a little to the toad, "I agree" the black crow crowed. Someone had eaten all the bread, it must have been the gnome (or perhaps the magpie instead)... The fairy decided to build a shelter, that would keep out the heat, when the weather started to swelter. The frog bounced up ... to lend a hand ... (though he didn't really think that her shelter was that grand).

1. The fairy was 2 / 3 rds of the height of the mushroom, which measured 15 cm high - so how tall was the fairy ?

2. It took the fairy at the bottom of my garden 5 minutes to walk along one paving stone in the garden path. If she walked for 40 minutes, how many paving stones were in the garden path ?

3. The fairy at the bottom of my garden met a slug and a caterpillar who told her the best to find fresh cabbage leaves ... if one cabbage had 25 leaves - the fairy ate 2, the slug ate 1.3 leaves and the caterpillar ate 20 % - how many leaves were left ?

4. The fairy at the bottom of my garden had a race with the grasshopper. Of course, the grasshopper won in 8 minutes (travelling at a speed of 4 daisies per minute). How many daisies did they pass in the race ? If the fairy travelled at 7 / 8 ths of this speed, how fast did she travel ?

5. The fairy at the bottom of my garden went collecting pollen to make honey with the bees - if she collected 3 lumps of pollen in 2 minutes, how much pollen did she collect in 15 minutes ? One lump of pollen could make 3 mls of honey - so how much honey was made from this amount of pollen collected by the fairy ?

6. She climbed up a molehill that measured 15 cm high and 10 cm wide. Using Pythagoras' theory, work out how far she travelled up one side. Give your answer to two decimal places.

7. The fairy then met a spider in the garden shed who said the fairy could use some of his thread to fix her torn dress, if she wishes. He sold her 5 cm of spidery thread at a cost of one gold coin per 0.25 cm. How much did she pay ? It took the fairy, with tiny fairy stitches 4 minutes to stitch 0.5 cm - how long did it take her to stitch the tear, measuring 2 cm ?

8. The fairy took a wash in dew left by the rain on the flowers. In one rain shower, there were 18 puddles in the garden. How many puddles were there after 6 rain showers ?

9. The fairy was almost knocked on the head by an acorn ! She had to dodge quickly out of the way ... if there were 70 acorns on the oal tree at the bottom of the garden where the fairy lived and 60% fell to the ground - how many were left on the tree ?

10. The fairy went picking flowers, but it was quite hard because they were so much bigger than her. It took her 7 minutes to put one into a vase - if the vase contained 5 flowers, how long did it take the fairy ?

Answers : 1. 15 / 3 x 2 = 10 cm 2. 40 / 5 = 8 3. 25 - (2 - 1.3 - (25 / 5 = 5) = 16.7) = 8.3 leaves 4. a) 8 x 4 = 32 daisies b) 4 / 8 x 7 = 3.5 daisies per minute 5. a) 15 / 2 = 7. 5 x 3 = 22.5 b) 22.5 / 3 = 7.5 mls 6. y 2 = (15 x 15) + (5 x 5) = 225 + 25 = / 250 = 5.81 cm 7. a) 5 / 0.25 = 20 b) 2 / 0.5 x 4 = 16 mins 8. 18 x 6 = 108 9. 70 - (70 / 100 x 60 = 42) = 28 10. 7 x 5 = 35 mins

© Jacqueline Richards 2007