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Percentages for Kids: Explore Percent Island with Percy

Percentages for Kids: Explore Percent Island with Percy

Learn what per cent means and how percentages, fractions and decimals match. Shade hundred squares, run a fraction machine and solve island puzzles.

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What you'll learn

  • That per cent means parts per hundred, and what the % sign shows
  • How to write any percentage as a fraction out of 100
  • How to write percentages as decimals, including tricky ones like 7% = 0.07
  • The percentages and decimals for 1/2, 1/4, 1/5, 2/5 and 4/5
  • How to change tenths, twentieths, twenty-fifths and fiftieths into percentages
  • How to compare amounts and find what is left of 100%

Chapter by chapter

  1. Per cent means parts per hundred: the % sign Free to try

    Year 5 maths · 1

  2. Writing percentages as fractions out of 100

    Year 5 maths · 1

  3. Writing percentages as decimals: tenths and hundredths

    Year 5 maths · 1

  4. Percentages and decimals for 1/2, 1/4, 1/5, 2/5 and 4/5

    Year 5 maths · 2

  5. Fractions out of 10, 20, 25 and 50 as percentages and decimals

    Year 5 maths · 2

  6. Solving problems with percentage, fraction and decimal equivalents

    Year 5 maths · 2 Year 5 maths · 1

  7. Golden Summit Challenge (10 questions) (10 questions)

What the chapters cover in the national curriculum in England:

  1. Year 5 maths: Recognise the per cent symbol (%) and understand that per cent relates to 'number of parts per 100', and write percentages as a fraction with denominator 100, and as a decimal fraction
  2. Year 5 maths: Solve problems which require knowing percentage and decimal equivalents of 1/2, 1/4, 1/5, 2/5, 4/5 and those fractions with a denominator of a multiple of 10 or 25

About this adventure

Percent Island is an interactive game that teaches percentages for kids aged 8–11, matching Year 5 maths in England. Children learn that per cent means parts per hundred, and that every percentage can also be written as a fraction out of 100 and as a decimal.

Percy the parrot reads every step aloud with captions. Players shade a 10 by 10 hundred square, use a place value chart of tenths and hundredths to see why 7% is 0.07 and not 0.7, and feed fractions such as 7/20 into a machine that multiplies the numerator and denominator to make hundredths.

Later, they compare and order mixed amounts such as 0.3, 1/4 and 0.28, and use bar models to find what is left of 100%. Answers are typed on an on-screen keypad or chosen from options, with a hint after a first wrong try.

Questions and answers

What does per cent mean, in simple words?

Per cent means out of every hundred. It comes from the Latin per centum, so 30% means 30 parts out of every 100, and 100% means the whole thing.

How do you write a percentage as a decimal?

Write the percentage as hundredths and put the digits in the tenths and hundredths places. So 37% becomes 0.37, while 7% becomes 0.07, because there are no whole tenths and a zero must hold the tenths place.

What is 1/4 as a percentage and a decimal?

One quarter is 25% and 0.25, because four equal quarters make 100 and each one is 25 out of 100. In the same way, one half is 50% or 0.5, and one fifth is 20% or 0.2.

What age is this percentages game for?

The game is for children aged 8 to 11 and matches the Year 5 maths curriculum in England, where percentages are first taught. Every line is read aloud and captioned, and two short refreshers on decimals and equivalent fractions support children who need a reminder.

What does the percentages game include and how long does it take?

It includes six chapters, each with an animated introduction, hands-on activities and a three-question check, plus a 10-question Golden Summit Challenge. Playing everything takes about an hour, and children can choose any chapter from the island map.

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