Fractions, Decimals & Percentages

Making Cupcakes with Maths: Fractions, Decimals & Percentages (Year 8)

Bring real-world maths into your classroom with this engaging, hands-on investigation that places students in charge of designing, costing, and running a cupcake business. This comprehensive Year 8 Mathematics task uses a familiar and motivating context to develop deep understanding of fractions, decimals, ratios, percentages, and financial mathematics through authentic problem-solving.

Across a series of connected investigations, students scale recipes, convert between number forms, compare supermarket prices, calculate profit and loss, reason with ratios, and apply percentages to realistic business scenarios. The task gradually builds in complexity, encouraging students to justify decisions, communicate reasoning, and apply mathematical modelling in meaningful contexts.

This resource is ideal as a rich assessment task, extended investigation, or project-based learning activity, and can be used over multiple lessons or as a summative task.

Key Features

Real-world, engaging cupcake business context

Strong focus on fractions, decimals, ratios, percentages, and financial maths

Explicit opportunities for reasoning, justification, and problem-solving

Includes cost comparisons, profit calculations, scaling, and unit conversions

Encourages students to show working and communicate mathematically

Clear A–E marking rubric aligned with achievement standards

Print-ready student workbook format (Word document)

Curriculum Alignment

Aligned to Year 8 Mathematics, including:

Operations with integers and rational numbers

Fractions, decimals, ratios, and percentages

Mathematical modelling in financial and measurement contexts

Interpretation, reasoning, and communication of mathematical results

What’s Included

Full student investigation booklet

Structured, multi-part task with increasing challenge

Realistic data tables and applied scenarios

Assessment rubric (A–E) for consistent marking

This task works especially well for teachers looking to move beyond worksheets and into authentic, applied mathematics that students can relate to and enjoy.