Our Probability Experiments Have a 100 Percent Chance of Engagement!

This Probability Experiments — Mystery Bucket Challenge is an engaging, hands-on activity designed to help students explore data collection, probability and prediction through meaningful practise. With clear instructions and two differentiated, ready-to-use recording sheets, this resource makes it easy for teachers to guide students through the process of drawing, recording and analysing results to uncover the mystery of what’s inside the bucket. 

Perfect for sparking class discussions around sample size, data interpretation and mathematical reasoning, our Probability Experiments — Mystery Bucket Challenge is a fun and effective way to bring probability to life in your classroom!

Prepare and Play This Probability Activity

This probability activity is easy to prepare and play! Here’s how:

Prepare:

1. Download and print the recording sheet of your choice for each student.
2. Secretly place 10 linking cubes of up to 5 different colours (e.g., 4 blue, 2 black, 2 red, 1 orange, 1 white) in a container.

Play:

1. Tell students there are 10 cubes of different colours in the bucket. Their goal is to determine how many of each colour are inside by drawing and recording data.
2. Without looking, students take turns drawing a cube, showing it to the class, recording its colour, then returning it to the bucket.
3. Repeat as many times as desired (or as time allows). Use this as a chance to discuss sample size.
4. After enough draws, students analyse their data and make a guess about the number of each colour in the bucket.
5. Reveal the actual cubes one by one. Students compare their predictions to the actual results.
6. Discuss as a class: Who was closest? What patterns did they notice? How did data inform their guesses?

Two versions of this Probability Experiments — Mystery Bucket Challenge are provided. The first is designed as an introduction to probability concepts, and the second is geared toward deeper exploration, with students recording both experimental and theoretical probabilities and engaging in more detailed reflection. And to increase the difficulty of this challenge further, try using 20 cubes instead of 10!

Download Our Simple Probability Experiments 

This and other simple probability experiments are easy to download. Just click the drop-down arrow on the download button and choose between the PDF or Google Slides format of this resource.

This resource was created by Kendall Britnell, a teacher and a Teach Starter collaborator.

Additional Probability Hands On Activities  

If you would like more probability hands on activities, you are in luck! Take a look at three additional resources below. 

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Probability of Everyday Events Sort

Share this probability of everyday events sort with your students to give them hands on practice identifying the likelihood of common events.

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Class Carnival – Probability STEM Challenges

A set of four carnival-themed STEM challenges where students create fun games that incorporate probability.

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Chance and Probability Upper Years PowerPoint

An engaging 30 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the classroom when learning about chance and probability in the upper years.