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 draw a continuous line through 16 numbers on this grid so that the total of the numbers you pass through is as high as possible?
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
Susie took cherries out of a bowl by following a certain pattern. How many cherries had there been in the bowl to start with if she was left with 14 single ones?
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
Place this "worm" on the 100 square and find the total of the four squares it covers. Keeping its head in the same place, what other totals can you make?
Mrs Morgan, the class's teacher, pinned numbers onto the backs of three children. Use the information to find out what the three numbers were.
Start by putting one million (1 000 000) into the display of your calculator. Can you reduce this to 7 using just the 7 key and add, subtract, multiply, divide and equals as many times as you like?
The Scot, John Napier, invented these strips about 400 years ago to help calculate multiplication and division. Can you work out how to use Napier's bones to find the answer to these multiplications?
In this 100 square, look at the green square which contains the numbers 2, 3, 12 and 13. What is the sum of the numbers that are diagonally opposite each other? What do you notice?
A game for 2 or more players. Practise your addition and subtraction with the aid of a game board and some dried peas!
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
There are over sixty different ways of making 24 by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing all four numbers 4, 6, 6 and 8 (using each number only once). How many can you find?
In your bank, you have three types of coins. The number of spots shows how much they are worth. Can you choose coins to exchange with the groups given to make the same total?
Use the interactivities to fill in these Carroll diagrams. How do you know where to place the numbers?
How have the numbers been placed in this Carroll diagram? Which labels would you put on each row and column?
Twizzle, a female giraffe, needs transporting to another zoo. Which route will give the fastest journey?
Find the sum of all three-digit numbers each of whose digits is odd.
Can you arrange fifteen dominoes so that all the touching domino pieces add to 6 and the ends join up? Can you make all the joins add to 7?
Can you substitute numbers for the letters in these sums?
Find out what a Deca Tree is and then work out how many leaves there will be after the woodcutter has cut off a trunk, a branch, a twig and a leaf.
Fill in the missing numbers so that adding each pair of corner numbers gives you the number between them (in the box).
Fill in the numbers to make the sum of each row, column and diagonal equal to 34. For an extra challenge try the huge American Flag magic square.
There are three baskets, a brown one, a red one and a pink one, holding a total of 10 eggs. Can you use the information given to find out how many eggs are in each basket?
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
At the beginning of May Tom put his tomato plant outside. On the same day he sowed a bean in another pot. When will the two be the same height?
Leah and Tom each have a number line. Can you work out where their counters will land? What are the secret jumps they make with their counters?
Fill in the numbers to make the sum of each row, column and diagonal equal to 15.
Annie and Ben are playing a game with a calculator. What was Annie's secret number?
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
Use these head, body and leg pieces to make Robot Monsters which are different heights.
Choose four different digits from 1-9 and put one in each box so that the resulting four two-digit numbers add to a total of 100.
Arrange three 1s, three 2s and three 3s in this square so that every row, column and diagonal adds to the same total.
Move from the START to the FINISH by moving across or down to the next square. Can you find a route to make these totals?
As you come down the ladders of the Tall Tower you collect useful spells. Which way should you go to collect the most spells?
In this problem you have to place four by four magic squares on the faces of a cube so that along each edge of the cube the numbers match.
These caterpillars have 16 parts. What different shapes do they make if each part lies in the small squares of a 4 by 4 square?
On Planet Plex, there are only 6 hours in the day. Can you answer these questions about how Arog the Alien spends his day?
Use the 'double-3 down' dominoes to make a square so that each side has eight dots.
In this article for teachers, Elizabeth Carruthers and Maulfry Worthington explore the differences between 'recording mathematics' and 'representing mathematical thinking'.
Use these four dominoes to make a square that has the same number of dots on each side.
Arrange the numbers 1 to 6 in each set of circles below. The sum of each side of the triangle should equal the number in its centre.
Claire thinks she has the most sports cards in her album. "I have 12 pages with 2 cards on each page", says Claire. Ross counts his cards. "No! I have 3 cards on each of my pages and there are. . . .
If each of these three shapes has a value, can you find the totals of the combinations? Perhaps you can use the shapes to make the given totals?
Can you each work out the number on your card? What do you notice? How could you sort the cards?
Sam got into an elevator. He went down five floors, up six floors, down seven floors, then got out on the second floor. On what floor did he get on?
This big box adds something to any number that goes into it. If you know the numbers that come out, what addition might be going on in the box?
Can you work out how many flowers there will be on the Amazing Splitting Plant after it has been growing for six weeks?
Use the number weights to find different ways of balancing the equaliser.
Woof is a big dog. Yap is a little dog. Emma has 16 dog biscuits to give to the two dogs. She gave Woof 4 more biscuits than Yap. How many biscuits did each dog get?