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 each work out the number on your card? What do you notice? How could you sort the cards?
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?
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. . . .
Can you arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.
This problem is based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
Can you work out how many flowers there will be on the Amazing Splitting Plant after it has been growing for six weeks?
Use this grid to shade the numbers in the way described. Which numbers do you have left? Do you know what they are called?
All the girls would like a puzzle each for Christmas and all the boys would like a book each. Solve the riddle to find out how many puzzles and books Santa left.
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.
Use 4 four times with simple operations so that you get the answer 12. Can you make 15, 16 and 17 too?
This big box multiplies anything that goes inside it by the same number. If you know the numbers that come out, what multiplication might be going on in the box?
Zumf makes spectacles for the residents of the planet Zargon, who have either 3 eyes or 4 eyes. How many lenses will Zumf need to make all the different orders for 9 families?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible numbers?
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
This multiplication uses each of the digits 0 - 9 once and once only. Using the information given, can you replace the stars in the calculation with figures?
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
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?
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?
This problem is designed to help children to learn, and to use, the two and three times tables.
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
Twizzle, a female giraffe, needs transporting to another zoo. Which route will give the fastest journey?
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,. . . .
This magic square has operations written in it, to make it into a maze. Start wherever you like, go through every cell and go out a total of 15!
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?
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
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.
Can you complete this jigsaw of the multiplication square?
There were 22 legs creeping across the web. How many flies? How many spiders?
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?
Can you replace the letters with numbers? Is there only one solution in each case?
What is the sum of all the three digit whole numbers?
In the multiplication sum, some of the digits have been replaced by letters and others by asterisks. Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?
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.
The clockmaker's wife cut up his birthday cake to look like a clock face. Can you work out who received each piece?
56 406 is the product of two consecutive numbers. What are these two numbers?
Using the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 once and only once, and the operations x and ÷ once and only once, what is the smallest whole number you can make?
Cherri, Saxon, Mel and Paul are friends. They are all different ages. Can you find out the age of each friend using the information?
Go through the maze, collecting and losing your money as you go. Which route gives you the highest return? And the lowest?
If the numbers 5, 7 and 4 go into this function machine, what numbers will come out?
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?
Suppose we allow ourselves to use three numbers less than 10 and multiply them together. How many different products can you find? How do you know you've got them all?
These sixteen children are standing in four lines of four, one behind the other. They are each holding a card with a number on it. Can you work out the missing numbers?
Put a number at the top of the machine and collect a number at the bottom. What do you get? Which numbers get back to themselves?
In a Magic Square all the rows, columns and diagonals add to the 'Magic Constant'. How would you change the magic constant of this square?
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.
Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.
Annie and Ben are playing a game with a calculator. What was Annie's secret number?
Here are the prices for 1st and 2nd class mail within the UK. You have an unlimited number of each of these stamps. Which stamps would you need to post a parcel weighing 825g?
Ben’s class were making cutting up number tracks. First they cut them into twos and added up the numbers on each piece. What patterns could they see?