Owen’s Picnic Picture

Owen, Lily, Daniel and Emma wanted to make one big picture for the class picnic. Their teacher found a rectangular sheet of paper. “You can all add something,” she said. Owen fetched the colouring pencils. Everyone had an idea.

Lily wanted to draw the sun. Daniel wanted a tree. Emma wanted a kite, and Owen wanted a picnic basket. They crowded round one corner. “We need room for all four ideas,” said Owen. “How can we share the paper?”

Owen folded the sheet in half. Two equal parts appeared when he opened it. “That gives us room for two,” said Emma. “There are four of us.” Owen folded it along the same crease, then folded the smaller rectangle in half again.

He opened both folds. The sheet now had four equal rectangular parts. Each child could have one part. “Each part is one quarter of the whole sheet,” said their teacher. The children traced the folds with their fingers.

Daniel pointed to one quarter. “If I use this, there are three quarters left for everyone else.” Lily chose another part. Emma and Owen took the last two. Nobody needed to squeeze an idea into a tiny gap.

They turned the paper so they could each reach their own part. Owen began his basket. Emma drew a kite with a long tail. Lily added a bright sun, and Daniel gave his tree a broad, leafy top.

When they finished, Owen counted the four equal spaces again. They had one picture made from four quarters. The folds were still there, even though the drawings were different. “We all drew different things,” he said, “but we each had the same amount of paper.”

Their teacher hung the picture near the picnic rug. The sun shone above a tree, a basket and a kite in their own parts. The children sat down together. Owen looked up at the picture. There was room for everyone.