See and Say Sequence Puzzle
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I’ve got a new sequence puzzle to share with my students when we get back from Spring Break. This puzzle asks “What is the next number in the sequence?”
This puzzle is commonly known as the “See and Say Sequence,” “Look and Say Sequence,” or “Count and Say Sequence.”
I intentionally made my question poster very generic so I can reuse it in the future for other numerical sequences.
What is the next number in the sequence?
1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 13112221, …
If you are stumped by this sequence, the name does sort of give away the solution if you really think about it. It is for this reason that I do not tell my students the name of this sequence.
Like always, I try not to post solutions to puzzles here on my blog because my students are master googlers. Though, this sequence is so famous that they will have no trouble finding the answer online at all if they search the sequence.
I divided a sheet of letter sized paper in thirds and printed part of the sequence on each third.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.
I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.
I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!
I taped the strips together and tried out a laminating hack I saw online where you tape several laminating pouches together in order to laminate the long strip. It worked quite well. I was able to easily remove the tape after it came out of the laminator.
I typed this sequence puzzle up at the same time that I typed up the M Heart 8 Puzzle.
I had such a fun time putting up a new symbol each day. In retrospect, I kinda wish I had formatted this sequence in the same way where I put up a new number each day. Kids would remind me each day this past week if I didn’t add a new term to the sequence.
Update: I made a version with individual magnets so you can add to the sequence each day.
Free Download of See and Say Sequence Puzzle
Click here to Download
See and Say Sequence (PDF)
2223 downloads – 24.26 KB
Click here to Download
See and Say Sequence (Editable Publisher File ZIP)
1739 downloads – 28.70 KB
Click here to Download
See and Say Sequence with Individual Magnets (PDF)
1809 downloads – 52.92 KB
Looking for more fun puzzles? Check out my puzzles page!
Puzzle Solutions
Puzzle solutions are available on a password-protected solution page. I do not openly post the puzzle answer keys because one of my goals as a resource creator is to craft learning experiences for students that are non-google-able. I want teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms without the solutions being found easily on the Internet.
Please email me at sarah@mathequalslove.net for the password to the answer key database featuring all of my printable puzzles and math worksheets. I frequently have students emailing me for the answer key, so please specify in your email what school you teach at and what subjects you teach. If you do not provide these details, I will not be able to send you the password.
Not a teacher? Go ahead and send me an email as well. Just let me know what you are using the puzzles for. I am continually in awe of how many people are using these puzzles with scouting groups, with senior adults battling dementia, or as fun activities in their workplace. Just give me enough details so I know you are not a student looking for answers to the puzzle that was assigned as their homework!
