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Finding a half

A half means finding one of two equal parts.

If you put two halves together you get one whole.

To find half, you need to count how many in the whole first.

Then share the total number into two equal groups. Half is the number in one group.

Example

Here are some apples. Can you count how many there are in total?

There are 12 apples in total.

How many apples make half of 12?

By sharing the apples into two equal groups, you can see there are 6 apples in each group.

Top tip

Count the total before you share into two equal groups.

Activity 1

Collect piles of different items from around the house, such as building blocks, teddies, shoes, or pencils. Collect more than one of each item.

Put the items in a pile and then share each pile equally between the two of you. Some piles of objects will be shared out in whole numbers, but this might not be true for all of the things.

Do you notice anything about the numbers which end up with you having a different number of items each?

Once the items are shared between you, count each item to make sure that you have half each.

Activity 2

Now have a go at this quiz and see if you can answer questions about finding half of amounts.