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'll need two dice to play this game against a partner. Will Incey Wincey make it to the top of the drain pipe or the bottom of the drain pipe first?
Play this well-known game against the computer where each player is equally likely to choose scissors, paper or rock. Why not try the variations too?
Try to stop your opponent from being able to split the piles of counters into unequal numbers. Can you find a strategy?
Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.
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?
Ben and his mum are planting garlic. Use the interactivity to help you find out how many cloves of garlic they might have had.
What do the numbers shaded in blue on this hundred square have in common? What do you notice about the pink numbers? How about the shaded numbers in the other squares?
Can you use the numbers on the dice to reach your end of the number line before your partner beats you?
How many trains can you make which are the same length as Matt's, using rods that are identical?
Complete the squares - but be warned some are trickier than they look!
A game to be played against the computer, or in groups. Pick a 7-digit number. A random digit is generated. What must you subract to remove the digit from your number? the first to zero wins.
Can you work out how to balance this equaliser? You can put more than one weight on a hook.
An odd version of tic tac toe
Arrange the four number cards on the grid, according to the rules, to make a diagonal, vertical or horizontal line.
A generic circular pegboard resource.
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!
Move just three of the circles so that the triangle faces in the opposite direction.
Take it in turns to place a domino on the grid. One to be placed horizontally and the other vertically. Can you make it impossible for your opponent to play?
This article gives you a few ideas for understanding the Got It! game and how you might find a winning strategy.
A variant on the game Alquerque
Exchange the positions of the two sets of counters in the least possible number of moves
Use the interactivity to find out how many quarter turns the man must rotate through to look like each of the pictures.
If you have only four weights, where could you place them in order to balance this equaliser?
Match the halves.
There are three versions of this challenge. The idea is to change the colour of all the spots on the grid. Can you do it in fewer throws of the dice?
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?
Twenty four games for the run-up to Christmas.
Here is a chance to play a version of the classic Countdown Game.
This 100 square jigsaw is written in code. It starts with 1 and ends with 100. Can you build it up?
Choose a symbol to put into the number sentence.
How many different rhythms can you make by putting two drums on the wheel?
An interactive game for 1 person. You are given a rectangle with 50 squares on it. Roll the dice to get a percentage between 2 and 100. How many squares is this? Keep going until you get 100. . . .
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.
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?
Three beads are threaded on a circular wire and are coloured either red or blue. Can you find all four different combinations?
An interactive game to be played on your own or with friends. Imagine you are having a party. Each person takes it in turns to stand behind the chair where they will get the most chocolate.
Investigate which numbers make these lights come on. What is the smallest number you can find that lights up all the lights?
A game for 2 people that can be played on line or with pens and paper. Combine your knowledege of coordinates with your skills of strategic thinking.
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?
Try out the lottery that is played in a far-away land. What is the chance of winning?
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?
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?
Make one big triangle so the numbers that touch on the small triangles add to 10. You could use the interactivity to help you.
Using angular.js to bind inputs to outputs
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?
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?
The computer has made a rectangle and will tell you the number of spots it uses in total. Can you find out where the rectangle is?
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?
Mr Gilderdale is playing a game with his class. What rule might he have chosen? How would you test your idea?