Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
You have 4 red and 5 blue counters. How many ways can they be placed on a 3 by 3 grid so that all the rows columns and diagonals have an even number of red counters?
Use the clues to colour each square.
What happens when you try and fit the triomino pieces into these two grids?
Is it possible to place 2 counters on the 3 by 3 grid so that there is an even number of counters in every row and every column? How about if you have 3 counters or 4 counters or....?
Can you cover the camel with these pieces?
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?
What is the best way to shunt these carriages so that each train can continue its journey?
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?
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?
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?
Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.
Can you find all the different ways of lining up these Cuisenaire rods?
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?
This problem focuses on Dienes' Logiblocs. What is the same and what is different about these pairs of shapes? Can you describe the shapes in the picture?
Can you put the 25 coloured tiles into the 5 x 5 square so that no column, no row and no diagonal line have tiles of the same colour in them?
A tetromino is made up of four squares joined edge to edge. Can this tetromino, together with 15 copies of itself, be used to cover an eight by eight chessboard?
Here are some rods that are different colours. How could I make a dark green rod using yellow and white rods?
How many different rhythms can you make by putting two drums on the wheel?
Cut four triangles from a square as shown in the picture. How many different shapes can you make by fitting the four triangles back together?
Use the interactivity to help get a feel for this problem and to find out all the possible ways the balls could land.
Can you work out how to balance this equaliser? You can put more than one weight on a hook.
There are nine teddies in Teddy Town - three red, three blue and three yellow. There are also nine houses, three of each colour. Can you put them on the map of Teddy Town according to the rules?
Ben and his mum are planting garlic. Use the interactivity to help you find out how many cloves of garlic they might have had.
Can you put the numbers from 1 to 15 on the circles so that no consecutive numbers lie anywhere along a continuous straight line?
Place the numbers 1 to 6 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.
In this town, houses are built with one room for each person. There are some families of seven people living in the town. In how many different ways can they build their houses?
Find your way through the grid starting at 2 and following these operations. What number do you end on?
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?
Using different numbers of sticks, how many different triangles are you able to make? Can you make any rules about the numbers of sticks that make the most triangles?
How many different ways can you find to join three equilateral triangles together? Can you convince us that you have found them all?
Use the interactivity to find all the different right-angled triangles you can make by just moving one corner of the starting triangle.
Swap the stars with the moons, using only knights' moves (as on a chess board). What is the smallest number of moves possible?
Try out the lottery that is played in a far-away land. What is the chance of winning?
Can you put the numbers 1 to 8 into the circles so that the four calculations are correct?
Take 5 cubes of one colour and 2 of another colour. How many different ways can you join them if the 5 must touch the table and the 2 must not touch the table?
How many different ways can you find of fitting five hexagons together? How will you know you have found all the ways?
What is the greatest number of counters you can place on the grid below without four of them lying at the corners of a square?
Building up a simple Celtic knot. Try the interactivity or download the cards or have a go on squared paper.
How many DIFFERENT quadrilaterals can be made by joining the dots on the 8-point circle?
Kate has eight multilink cubes. She has two red ones, two yellow, two green and two blue. She wants to fit them together to make a cube so that each colour shows on each face just once.
How many different triangles can you draw on the dotty grid which each have one dot in the middle?
Only one side of a two-slice toaster is working. What is the quickest way to toast both sides of three slices of bread?
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.
Let's say you can only use two different lengths - 2 units and 4 units. Using just these 2 lengths as the edges how many different cuboids can you make?
Have a go at this well-known challenge. Can you swap the frogs and toads in as few slides and jumps as possible?
How many ways can you find to do up all four buttons on my coat? How about if I had five buttons? Six ...?
Arrange 9 red cubes, 9 blue cubes and 9 yellow cubes into a large 3 by 3 cube. No row or column of cubes must contain two cubes of the same colour.
Place the numbers 1 to 10 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.
What is the smallest cuboid that you can put in this box so that you cannot fit another that's the same into it?
What is the least number of moves you can take to rearrange the bears so that no bear is next to a bear of the same colour?