The 100 Face Challenge

What Is the 100 Face Challenge?

The 100 Face Challenge invites learners to build a face using Cuisenaire rods that totals exactly 100. This creative constraint opens the door to problem-solving, pattern-making, visual design, and number sense—all at once.

Inspired by Malke Rosenfeld’s original idea over at Math in Your Feet, we’ve expanded the concept to include multiple entry points for learners of all ages. Whether your child is just beginning to explore numbers or is ready to apply more advanced strategy and reasoning, this lesson offers room to think, wonder, and discover.

What Makes This Version Different?

This lesson has been carefully reworked and cross-referenced with two powerful tools in our approach:

• The Pattern Hunters Toolkit, which supports visual, structural, and creative exploration

• From Here to There, our guide to developing core cognitive skills like strategic thinking, comparison, representation, and system construction

It’s not just a math activity—it’s a thinking lab where your child builds not only a face, but their ability to notice, wonder, and discover.

Why Parents Should Join the Challenge

You’ll do more than watch your child “do math.” You’ll begin to see thinking in action—and start learning how to support it.

Through this lesson, you’ll learn to ask better questions, observe cognitive growth, and understand how attention, curiosity, and reasoning are built through play and purposeful design.

We’ve even included:

• A special Banker Strategy for younger students

• Built-in support for symmetry, constraint play, and open-ended exploration

• A full breakdown of the thinking skills being developed

Build. Share. Be Inspired.

Once your child creates their face, submit it to our growing Online Face Gallery to inspire other families. You’ll be part of a community of learners—building, sharing, and thinking together.