Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
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.
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.
Mr McGregor has a magic potting shed. Overnight, the number of plants in it doubles. He'd like to put the same number of plants in each of three gardens, planting one garden each day. Can he do it?
A game for 2 people. Use your skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to blast the asteroids.
This challenge is a game for two players. Choose two numbers from the grid and multiply or divide, then mark your answer on the number line. Can you get four in a row before your partner?
Can you work out what a ziffle is on the planet Zargon?
Resources to support understanding of multiplication and division through playing with number.
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.
Use the information to work out how many gifts there are in each pile.
On the planet Vuv there are two sorts of creatures. The Zios have 3 legs and the Zepts have 7 legs. The great planetary explorer Nico counted 52 legs. How many Zios and how many Zepts were there?
What is happening at each box in these machines?
Can you see why 2 by 2 could be 5? Can you predict what 2 by 10 will be?
Can you arrange 5 different digits (from 0 - 9) in the cross in the way described?
Work out Tom's number from the answers he gives his friend. He will only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
Where can you draw a line on a clock face so that the numbers on both sides have the same total?
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?
On the table there is a pile of oranges and lemons that weighs exactly one kilogram. Using the information, can you work out how many lemons there are?
Can you fill in this table square? The numbers 2 -12 were used to generate it with just one number used twice.
Can you score 100 by throwing rings on this board? Is there more than way to do it?
Rocco ran in a 200 m race for his class. Use the information to find out how many runners there were in the race and what Rocco's finishing position was.
The value of the circle changes in each of the following problems. Can you discover its value in each problem?
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!
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?
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!
Find the product of the numbers on the routes from A to B. Which route has the smallest product? Which the largest?
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.
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?
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?
Here is a chance to play a version of the classic Countdown Game.
Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 7, 19, 55 ...
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates yourself.
Amy has a box containing domino pieces but she does not think it is a complete set. She has 24 dominoes in her box and there are 125 spots on them altogether. Which of her domino pieces are missing?
Choose a symbol to put into the number sentence.
This group activity will encourage you to share calculation strategies and to think about which strategy might be the most efficient.
Look at different ways of dividing things. What do they mean? How might you show them in a picture, with things, with numbers and symbols?
Which is quicker, counting up to 30 in ones or counting up to 300 in tens? Why?
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 number has 903 digits. What is the sum of all 903 digits?
Use your logical reasoning to work out how many cows and how many sheep there are in each field.
What is the lowest number which always leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by each of the numbers from 2 to 10?
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?
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?
Can you see how these factor-multiple chains work? Find the chain which contains the smallest possible numbers. How about the largest possible numbers?
Use your logical-thinking skills to deduce how much Dan's crisps and ice-cream cost altogether.
Go through the maze, collecting and losing your money as you go. Which route gives you the highest return? And the lowest?
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of rabbit there are in these pens?
If the numbers 5, 7 and 4 go into this function machine, what numbers will come out?
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?
Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.