Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
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?
If you take a three by three square on a 1-10 addition square and multiply the diagonally opposite numbers together, what is the difference between these products. Why?
Try entering different sets of numbers in the number pyramids. How does the total at the top change?
Find the values of the nine letters in the sum: FOOT + BALL = GAME
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.
This Sudoku, based on differences. Using the one clue number can you find the solution?
Make your own double-sided magic square. But can you complete both sides once you've made the pieces?
Can you find six numbers to go in the Daisy from which you can make all the numbers from 1 to a number bigger than 25?
Five numbers added together in pairs produce: 0, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15 What are the five numbers?
The letters in the following addition sum represent the digits 1 ... 9. If A=3 and D=2, what number is represented by "CAYLEY"?
Can you find which shapes you need to put into the grid to make the totals at the end of each row and the bottom of each column?
Can you explain how this card trick works?
Delight your friends with this cunning trick! Can you explain how it works?
Four bags contain a large number of 1s, 3s, 5s and 7s. Pick any ten numbers from the bags above so that their total is 37.
If you have only four weights, where could you place them in order to balance this equaliser?
Here is a chance to play a version of the classic Countdown Game.
Do you notice anything about the solutions when you add and/or subtract consecutive negative numbers?
There are nasty versions of this dice game but we'll start with the nice ones...
Different combinations of the weights available allow you to make different totals. Which totals can you make?
For this challenge, you'll need to play Got It! Can you explain the strategy for winning this game with any target?
How many solutions can you find to this sum? Each of the different letters stands for a different number.
This challenging activity involves finding different ways to distribute fifteen items among four sets, when the sets must include three, four, five and six items.
This challenge extends the Plants investigation so now four or more children are involved.
This article gives you a few ideas for understanding the Got It! game and how you might find a winning strategy.
Starting with the number 180, take away 9 again and again, joining up the dots as you go. Watch out - don't join all the dots!
This article suggests some ways of making sense of calculations involving positive and negative numbers.
Is it possible to rearrange the numbers 1,2......12 around a clock face in such a way that every two numbers in adjacent positions differ by any of 3, 4 or 5 hours?
Lolla bought a balloon at the circus. She gave the clown six coins to pay for it. What could Lolla have paid for the balloon?
There are 44 people coming to a dinner party. There are 15 square tables that seat 4 people. Find a way to seat the 44 people using all 15 tables, with no empty places.
How could you put eight beanbags in the hoops so that there are four in the blue hoop, five in the red and six in the yellow? Can you find all the ways of doing this?
Katie had a pack of 20 cards numbered from 1 to 20. She arranged the cards into 6 unequal piles where each pile added to the same total. What was the total and how could this be done?
Place the numbers 1 to 10 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.
Choose a symbol to put into the number sentence.
You have 5 darts and your target score is 44. How many different ways could you score 44?
Winifred Wytsh bought a box each of jelly babies, milk jelly bears, yellow jelly bees and jelly belly beans. In how many different ways could she make a jolly jelly feast with 32 legs?
Can you put the numbers 1 to 8 into the circles so that the four calculations are correct?
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
Find at least one way to put in some operation signs (+ - x ÷) to make these digits come to 100.
There are 78 prisoners in a square cell block of twelve cells. The clever prison warder arranged them so there were 25 along each wall of the prison block. How did he do it?
Exactly 195 digits have been used to number the pages in a book. How many pages does the book have?
Place the numbers from 1 to 9 in the squares below so that the difference between joined squares is odd. How many different ways can you do this?
Add the sum of the squares of four numbers between 10 and 20 to the sum of the squares of three numbers less than 6 to make the square of another, larger, number.
Use the numbers in the box below to make the base of a top-heavy pyramid whose top number is 200.
Can you make a cycle of pairs that add to make a square number using all the numbers in the box below, once and once only?
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.
Ten cards are put into five envelopes so that there are two cards in each envelope. The sum of the numbers inside it is written on each envelope. What numbers could be inside the envelopes?
This problem is based on a code using two different prime numbers less than 10. You'll need to multiply them together and shift the alphabet forwards by the result. Can you decipher the code?
There are 4 jugs which hold 9 litres, 7 litres, 4 litres and 2 litres. Find a way to pour 9 litres of drink from one jug to another until you are left with exactly 3 litres in three of the jugs.
An environment which simulates working with Cuisenaire rods.
An investigation involving adding and subtracting sets of consecutive numbers. Lots to find out, lots to explore.