The Race Against Your Toenails
Why is it that we have to keep getting haircuts? Can’t we make our hair just stop? Well, we can’t: our hair and nails grow every minute of our lives – not fast enough to see them moving, but fast enough that if we let them go, we’ll end up like shaggy cavemen with claws.
Which one grows faster, our hair or our nails? Hair grows about one and a half cemtimetre every month but it’s a little different for everyone. Hey, if you want to measure your hair today and wait a couple of months for a haircut, you can find out your own hair speed! Meanwhile, fingernails grow about four milimetres each month, and amazingly, the longer the finger bone, the faster that nail grows. So your pinky fingernail grows the most slowly.
Finally, your toenails grow only 1/4 as fast as your fingernails – good thing, because they’re harder to reach!
Which one grows faster, our hair or our nails? Hair grows about one and a half cemtimetre every month but it’s a little different for everyone. Hey, if you want to measure your hair today and wait a couple of months for a haircut, you can find out your own hair speed! Meanwhile, fingernails grow about four milimetres each month, and amazingly, the longer the finger bone, the faster that nail grows. So your pinky fingernail grows the most slowly.
Finally, your toenails grow only 1/4 as fast as your fingernails – good thing, because they’re harder to reach!
Questions
Wee ones: If you’ve clipped 7 of your fingernails so far, what number nail comes next?
Little kids: If you always want your hair to be between 9 and 14 cm long, is 17 cm hair okay? Bonus: If you just got a haircut in February and you want to grow out your hair for 5 months, when will you get your next haircut?
Big kids: If your hair grows one and a half cemtimetre every month, how much should it grow in 1 year? (Reminder if needed: A year has 12 months.) Bonus: If your hair is 10 cm long and you think it would look awesome if it were 34 cm, how many years and months do you need to let it grow?
Little kids: If you always want your hair to be between 9 and 14 cm long, is 17 cm hair okay? Bonus: If you just got a haircut in February and you want to grow out your hair for 5 months, when will you get your next haircut?
Big kids: If your hair grows one and a half cemtimetre every month, how much should it grow in 1 year? (Reminder if needed: A year has 12 months.) Bonus: If your hair is 10 cm long and you think it would look awesome if it were 34 cm, how many years and months do you need to let it grow?
Answers:
Wee ones: Number 8.
Little kids: No, 17 cm is too long (longer than 14). Bonus: In July.
Big kids: 18cm.
Little kids: No, 17 cm is too long (longer than 14). Bonus: In July.
Big kids: 18cm.