IN THE BOX - Challenge: 1st grade cube box possibilities

Oct 22, 2026

Sally has three different-sized boxes (blue, red, yellow) and a pile of cubes. She places all cubes into the boxes so that each box receives a different number of cubes. The blue box must contain the most cubes, the red box the second most, and the yellow box the least. The puzzle asks for all possible cube distributions when there are 10 cubes, then asks for the distributions when there are 11 cubes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

In the Box

Puzzle with 10 cubes

Puzzle with 11 cubes

Answers

IN THE BOX Sally has 3 boxes: a blue box, a red box and a yellow box. She has 10 cubes which she puts into the boxes. Each box gets a different number of cubes. • The blue box gets the most cubes. • The red box gets the second most. • The yellow box gets the least cubes. How many cubes could there be in each box? There are 4 possibilities. Can you find the other three? | Blue box | 7 | Red box | 2 | Yellow box | 1 | = 10 cubes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 10 cubes | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 10 cubes | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 10 cubes | What if Sally had 11 cubes instead of 10? Can you find the 5 possibilities? | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 11 cubes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 11 cubes | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 11 cubes | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 11 cubes | | Blue box | | Red box | | Yellow box | | = 11 cubes | IN THE BOX ANSWERS Sally has 3 boxes: a blue box, a red box and a yellow box. She has 10 cubes which she puts into the boxes. Each box gets a different number of cubes. • The blue box gets the most cubes. • The red box gets the second most. • The yellow box gets the least cubes. How many cubes could there be in each box? There are 4 possibilities. Can you find the other three? | Blue box | 7 | Red box | 2 | Yellow box | 1 | = 10 cubes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Blue box | 6 | Red box | 3 | Yellow box | 1 | = 10 cubes | | Blue box | 5 | Red box | 4 | Yellow box | 1 | = 10 cubes | | Blue box | 5 | Red box | 3 | Yellow box | 2 | = 10 cubes | What if Sally had 11 cubes instead of 10? Can you find the 5 possibilities? | Blue box | 8 | Red box | 2 | Yellow box | 1 | = 11 cubes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Blue box | 7 | Red box | 3 | Yellow box | 1 | = 11 cubes | | Blue box | 6 | Red box | 4 | Yellow box | 1 | = 11 cubes | | Blue box | 6 | Red box | 3 | Yellow box | 2 | = 11 cubes | | Blue box | 5 | Red box | 4 | Yellow box | 2 | = 11 cubes |

FAQs

How does the puzzle define the blue, red, and yellow boxes?

The blue box must get the most cubes, the red box gets the second most, and the yellow box gets the least. All three boxes receive different numbers of cubes.

What is asked for when Sally has 10 cubes?

Find all possible ways to split 10 cubes into three boxes that satisfy the most/second most/least rule.

What changes in the puzzle when Sally has 11 cubes?

The total number of cubes becomes 11, and you must find all valid distributions into the three boxes that still follow the ordering rule.

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Taylor Morgan