How long will it take you to trick-or-treat?

It's Halloween and this is your neighborhood. How long will it take you to trick or treat at every house in your neighborhood? Possible conversation with students:

• How long will it take you to get from house to house? You should stay on the sidewalks. You may have to avoid landscaping and cars.
• How long will it take you to get your candy at each house? (Other trick or treaters could be in your way.  You may have to wait for your friends.)
• Are you better off going back and forth across the street or going up one side and then back down the other?

What would be the best route to take to maximize your time, reduce your distance covered and reach the most houses?  A variety of strategies are possible.  Students could focus on the number of houses, use various strategies to count up the houses and then come to an estimate of how long to reach each house and all houses.  Other students might be more interested in planning the best or most efficient route.  Older students might discuss the distance saved by going directly from door to door, versus going straight across a street and then turning left or right (Pythagorean Theorem anyone?). 

 This is a very open ended activity that could go a lot of different ways depending on the age of your students.  Consider letting your students share their times, reasoning & trick or treating strategies. For homework or an extension have students use Google Earth to bring up a map of their own neighborhood.  Have students plan their own trick or treating route.  They should try to make their route as efficient as possible and estimate the time their route will require.