Primary Live Problems

Each time you visit the NRICH site there will be some activities which are 'live'. That means we are inviting you and your students to send us solutions and we will publish a selection of them, along with your students' names and school, in a few weeks' time. If you'd like to know more about what we're looking for, read this short article.

Count the Crayonslive

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

How could you estimate the number of pencils/pens in these pictures?

Heads and Feetlive

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

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

Stone Age Countinglive

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

What could these drawings, found in a cave in Spain, represent?

Prompt Cardslive

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

These two group activities use mathematical reasoning - one is numerical, one geometric.

Maze 100live

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Can you go through this maze so that the numbers you pass add to exactly 100?

Money Bagslive

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

Ram divided 15 pennies among four small bags. He could then pay any sum of money from 1p to 15p without opening any bag. How many pennies did Ram put in each bag?

How Oddlive

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2

This problem challenges you to find out how many odd numbers there are between pairs of numbers. Can you find a pair of numbers that has four odds between them?

What Could It Be?live

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

In this calculation, the box represents a missing digit. What could the digit be? What would the solution be in each case?

Highest and Lowestlive

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Put operations signs between the numbers 3 4 5 6 to make the highest possible number and lowest possible number.

Take Three Numberslive

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

What happens when you add three numbers together? Will your answer be odd or even? How do you know?

Pass the Peas, Pleaselive

Stage: 1 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3 Challenge Level:3

A game for 2 or more players. Practise your addition and subtraction with the aid of a game board and some dried peas!

Four Golive

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

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?

Stage 1 and 2 Toughnuts

Stage: 1 and 2

These Stage 1 and 2 problems haven't been solved yet. Why not take a look?

The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice. More information on many of our other activities can be found here.
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NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.