Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Can you shunt the trucks so that the Cattle truck and the Sheep truck change places and the Engine is back on the main line?
What is the best way to shunt these carriages so that each train can continue its journey?
Swap the stars with the moons, using only knights' moves (as on a chess board). What is the smallest number of moves possible?
Can you visualise whether these nets fold up into 3D shapes? Watch the videos each time to see if you were correct.
Hover your mouse over the counters to see which ones will be removed. Click to remover them. The winner is the last one to remove a counter. How you can make sure you win?
Find your way through the grid starting at 2 and following these operations. What number do you end on?
In a square in which the houses are evenly spaced, numbers 3 and 10 are opposite each other. What is the smallest and what is the largest possible number of houses in the square?
Make one big triangle so the numbers that touch on the small triangles add to 10. You could use the interactivity to help you.
10 space travellers are waiting to board their spaceships. There are two rows of seats in the waiting room. Using the rules, where are they all sitting? Can you find all the possible ways?
I found these clocks in the Arts Centre at the University of Warwick intriguing - do they really need four clocks and what times would be ambiguous with only two or three of them?
We start with one yellow cube and build around it to make a 3x3x3 cube with red cubes. Then we build around that red cube with blue cubes and so on. How many cubes of each colour have we used?
If you split the square into these two pieces, it is possible to fit the pieces together again to make a new shape. How many new shapes can you make?
Use the three triangles to fill these outline shapes. Perhaps you can create some of your own shapes for a friend to fill?
This article for teachers describes how modelling number properties involving multiplication using an array of objects not only allows children to represent their thinking with concrete materials,. . . .
Take a rectangle of paper and fold it in half, and half again, to make four smaller rectangles. How many different ways can you fold it up?
Imagine a wheel with different markings painted on it at regular intervals. Can you predict the colour of the 18th mark? The 100th mark?
Can you see why 2 by 2 could be 5? Can you predict what 2 by 10 will be?
Here you see the front and back views of a dodecahedron. Each vertex has been numbered so that the numbers around each pentagonal face add up to 65. Can you find all the missing numbers?
This 100 square jigsaw is written in code. It starts with 1 and ends with 100. Can you build it up?
In how many ways can you fit two of these yellow triangles together? Can you predict the number of ways two blue triangles can be fitted together?
Problem solving is at the heart of the NRICH site. All the problems give learners opportunities to learn, develop or use mathematical concepts and skills. Read here for more information.
Building up a simple Celtic knot. Try the interactivity or download the cards or have a go on squared paper.
Imagine a pyramid which is built in square layers of small cubes. If we number the cubes from the top, starting with 1, can you picture which cubes are directly below this first cube?
Can you predict when you'll be clapping and when you'll be clicking if you start this rhythm? How about when a friend begins a new rhythm at the same time?
Create a pattern on the left-hand grid. How could you extend your pattern on the right-hand grid?
Lyndon Baker describes how the Mobius strip and Euler's law can introduce pupils to the idea of topology.
Here's a simple way to make a Tangram without any measuring or ruling lines.
Players take it in turns to choose a dot on the grid. The winner is the first to have four dots that can be joined to form a square.
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.
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of Little Ming and Little Fung dancing?
A hundred square has been printed on both sides of a piece of paper. What is on the back of 100? 58? 23? 19?
What happens when you turn these cogs? Investigate the differences between turning two cogs of different sizes and two cogs which are the same.
This article looks at levels of geometric thinking and the types of activities required to develop this thinking.
Billy's class had a robot called Fred who could draw with chalk held underneath him. What shapes did the pupils make Fred draw?
These points all mark the vertices (corners) of ten hidden squares. Can you find the 10 hidden squares?
If you can post the triangle with either the blue or yellow colour face up, how many ways can it be posted altogether?
What is the shape of wrapping paper that you would need to completely wrap this model?
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this sports car?
Can you find a way of representing these arrangements of balls?
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of this goat and giraffe?
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the workmen?
This article for teachers discusses examples of problems in which there is no obvious method but in which children can be encouraged to think deeply about the context and extend their ability to. . . .
Here are shadows of some 3D shapes. What shapes could have made them?
Which of these dice are right-handed and which are left-handed?
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the watering can and man in a boat?
Investigate how the four L-shapes fit together to make an enlarged L-shape. You could explore this idea with other shapes too.
Can you cut a regular hexagon into two pieces to make a parallelogram? Try cutting it into three pieces to make a rhombus!
A shape and space game for 2,3 or 4 players. Be the last person to be able to place a pentomino piece on the playing board. Play with card, or on the computer.
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.
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of Mai Ling and Chi Wing?