Your solution does not make sense to me, so why should it do so to the kids?

You will give each of three kids 2 apples, meaning there will be six apples...but you said there are only five. Kids tend to lock into the limits you set, asking them to use an imaginary apple is not fair.

Then they cut back 1/3 of 1 apple and returned it to me.

How can they each give you a third of their 2nd apple, since one of them does not have a second apple - plus, if you keep those thirds, then there are not 3 sharing, there are 4 people sharing.

Anyway, let us examine it again:

• they each get one apple.

• there are 2 apples left, so you give each of them one third of each of the two apples, so it means they each have one and two thirds