Trial and improvement at KS1

Simply 'having a go' is a great way to make a start on a mathematical problem. Whatever happens, you will have learnt more about the situation and can then tweak your approach. These activities all lend themselves to this 'trial and improvement' way of working.

This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic.

problem

Two-digit targets

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

You have a set of the digits from 0 to 9. Can you arrange these in the five boxes to make two-digit numbers as close to the targets as possible?

problem

Five steps to 50

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

Use five steps to count forwards or backwards in 1s or 10s to get to 50. What strategies did you use?

problem

One big triangle

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

Make one big triangle so the numbers that touch on the small triangles add to 10.

problem

Find the difference

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

Place the numbers 1 to 6 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.

problem

Starfish spotting

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

How many starfish could there be on the beach, and how many children, if I can see 28 arms?

problem

Heads and feet

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

On a farm there were some hens and sheep. Altogether there were 8 heads and 22 feet. How many hens were there?

problem

Four colours

Age

5 to 11

Challenge level

Kate has eight multilink cubes. She has two red ones, two yellow, two green and two blue. She wants to fit them together to make a cube so that each colour shows on each face just once.