Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
A shunting puzzle for 1 person. Swop the positions of the counters at the top and bottom of the board.
An activity based on the game 'Pelmanism'. Set your own level of challenge and beat your own previous best score.
The idea of this game is to add or subtract the two numbers on the dice and cover the result on the grid, trying to get a line of three. Are there some numbers that are good to aim for?
A game for 2 or more players with a pack of cards. Practise your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to hit the target score.
A game for 2 people using a pack of cards Turn over 2 cards and try to make an odd number or a multiple of 3.
A game for 2 players. Can be played online. One player has 1 red counter, the other has 4 blue. The red counter needs to reach the other side, and the blue needs to trap the red.
Match the halves.
A game for 2 or more people. Starting with 100, subratct a number from 1 to 9 from the total. You score for making an odd number, a number ending in 0 or a multiple of 6.
An interactive game to be played on your own or with friends. Imagine you are having a party. Each person takes it in turns to stand behind the chair where they will get the most chocolate.
Reasoning based on this Japanese activity.
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
A game for two people, or play online. Given a target number, say 23, and a range of numbers to choose from, say 1-4, players take it in turns to add to the running total to hit their target.
A card pairing game involving knowledge of simple ratio.
A game that tests your understanding of remainders.
Work out the fractions to match the cards with the same amount of money.
Use your addition and subtraction skills, combined with some strategic thinking, to beat your partner at this game.
A game for 2 people. Take turns placing a counter on the star. You win when you have completed a line of 3 in your colour.
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
A game in which players take it in turns to choose a number. Can you block your opponent?
Can you work out how to win this game of Nim? Does it matter if you go first or second?
This challenge is a game for two players. Choose two numbers from the grid and multiply or divide, then mark your answer on the number line. Can you get four in a row before your partner?
A fun puzzle with tantrix tiles.
A game for 2 players. Practises subtraction or other maths operations knowledge.
Design your own scoring system and play Trumps with these Olympic Sport cards.
Have a go at this game which involves throwing two dice and adding their totals. Where should you place your counters to be more likely to win?
A game for 1 person to develop stategy and shape and space awareness. 12 counters are placed on a board. Counters are removed one at a time. The aim is to be left with only 1 counter.
In this game, you can add, subtract, multiply or divide the numbers on the dice. Which will you do so that you get to the end of the number line first?
This article for teachers describes several games, found on the site, all of which have a related structure that can be used to develop the skills of strategic planning.
A game for 1 person. Can you work out how the dice must be rolled from the start position to the finish? Play on line.
Here are a collection of games from around the world to try during the holidays or the last few weeks of term.
You'll need two dice to play this game against a partner. Will Incey Wincey make it to the top of the drain pipe or the bottom of the drain pipe first?
Unmultiply is a game of quick estimation. You need to find two numbers that multiply together to something close to the given target - fast! 10 levels with a high scores table.
This article, the second in the series, looks at some different types of games and the sort of mathematical thinking they can develop.
This article supplies teachers with information that may be useful in better understanding the nature of games and their role in teaching and learning mathematics.
This is a game for 2 players. Each player has 4 counters each, and wins by blocking their opponent's counters. A good follow-on from two stones.
Take it in turns to place a domino on the grid. One to be placed horizontally and the other vertically. Can you make it impossible for your opponent to play?
A game for 2 people that can be played on line or with pens and paper. Combine your knowledege of coordinates with your skills of strategic thinking.
A train building game for 2 players.
A complicated game played on a 9 x 9 checkered grid.
A game for 2 players. Take turns to place a counter so that it occupies one of the lowest possible positions in the grid. The first player to complete a line of 4 wins.
An ordinary set of dominoes can be laid out as a 7 by 4 magic rectangle in which all the spots in all the columns add to 24, while those in the rows add to 42. Try it! Now try the magic square...
Who said that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing couldn't be fun?
A game to make and play based on the number line.
An old game but lots of arithmetic!
The game uses a 3x3 square board. 2 players take turns to play, either placing a red on an empty square, or changing a red to orange, or orange to green. The player who forms 3 of 1 colour in a line. . . .
This is a challenging game of strategy for two players with many interesting variations.
Use the tangram pieces to make our pictures, or to design some of your own!
Basic strategy games are particularly suitable as starting points for investigations. Players instinctively try to discover a winning strategy, and usually the best way to do this is to analyse. . . .
The aim of the game is to slide the green square from the top right hand corner to the bottom left hand corner in the least number of moves.
A game for 1 or 2 people. Use the interactive version, or play with friends. Try to round up as many counters as possible.