In this Kidspiration activity, students use color tiles to build characters that meet a set of specifications, such as ¼ blue, ½ red and ¼ yellow. They get to be creative, explore fractions, and come up with multiple solutions to share and compare. The first page is an example and the subsequent pages contain problems for students to try. This activity was demonstrated as part of the the August 28th, 2008 webcast, "Making Sense of Fractions with Kidspiration's Math Tools". A complimentary archived recording of this and other webcasts can be accessed here.

Ideas for adaptations:
-Modify the number of colors and the specific fractions used on each page to differentiate instruction or meet the needs of your students.
-Have students decide on the total number of tiles to be used for each character, or include a total number in the instructions for each page.
-Change the size of the tiles (on the bottom toolbar) to allow fewer or more tiles to fit on the page.

This activity was created using Kidspiration 3, which must be installed to open the file. Download a 30-day free trial at www.inspiration.com/freetrial