Are all the possible combinations of two shapes included in this set of 27 cards? How do you know?
How many trapeziums, of various sizes, are hidden in this picture?
Nina must cook some pasta for 15 minutes but she only has a 7-minute sand-timer and an 11-minute sand-timer. How can she use these timers to measure exactly 15 minutes?
The Red Express Train usually has five red carriages. How many ways can you find to add two blue carriages?
El Crico the cricket has to cross a square patio to get home. He can jump the length of one tile, two tiles and three tiles. Can you find a path that would get El Crico home in three jumps?
These are the faces of Will, Lil, Bill, Phil and Jill. Use the clues to work out which name goes with each face.
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps to have an ordered approach.
Frances and Rishi were given a bag of lollies. They shared them out evenly and had one left over. How many lollies could there have been in the bag?
Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
Six friends sat around a circular table. Can you work out from the information who sat where and what their profession were?
How many different shaped boxes can you design for 36 sweets in one layer? Can you arrange the sweets so that no sweets of the same colour are next to each other in any direction?
Can you create jigsaw pieces which are based on a square shape, with at least one peg and one hole?
A merchant brings four bars of gold to a jeweller. How can the jeweller use the scales just twice to identify the lighter, fake bar?
Lorenzie was packing his bag for a school trip. He packed four shirts and three pairs of pants. "I will be able to have a different outfit each day", he said. How many days will Lorenzie be away?
If these elves wear a different outfit every day for as many days as possible, how many days can their fun last?
These activities focus on finding all possible solutions so working in a systematic way will ensure none are left out.
In this maze of hexagons, you start in the centre at 0. The next hexagon must be a multiple of 2 and the next a multiple of 5. What are the possible paths you could take?
Can you fill in the empty boxes in the grid with the right shape and colour?
Use the clues to work out which cities Mohamed, Sheng, Tanya and Bharat live in.
These activities focus on finding all possible solutions so if you work in a systematic way, you won't leave any out.
Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.
My cousin was 24 years old on Friday April 5th in 1974. On what day of the week was she born?
Use the clues to find out who's who in the family, to fill in the family tree and to find out which of the family members are mathematicians and which are not.
Sitting around a table are three girls and three boys. Use the clues to work out were each person is sitting.
Make a pair of cubes that can be moved to show all the days of the month from the 1st to the 31st.
This challenge is about finding the difference between numbers which have the same tens digit.
Can you find the chosen number from the grid using the clues?
In Sam and Jill's garden there are two sorts of ladybirds with 7 spots or 4 spots. What numbers of total spots can you make?
My coat has three buttons. How many ways can you find to do up all the buttons?
My briefcase has a three-number combination lock, but I have forgotten the combination. I remember that there's a 3, a 5 and an 8. How many possible combinations are there to try?
Seven friends went to a fun fair with lots of scary rides. They decided to pair up for rides until each friend had ridden once with each of the others. What was the total number rides?
What is the smallest number of jumps needed before the white rabbits and the grey rabbits can continue along their path?
The Vikings communicated in writing by making simple scratches on wood or stones called runes. Can you work out how their code works using the table of the alphabet?
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps if you have an ordered approach.
The Zargoes use almost the same alphabet as English. What does this birthday message say?
What happens when you add three numbers together? Will your answer be odd or even? How do you know?
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.
An activity making various patterns with 2 x 1 rectangular tiles.
There are 4 jugs which hold 9 litres, 7 litres, 4 litres and 2 litres. Find a way to pour 9 litres of drink from one jug to another until you are left with exactly 3 litres in three of the jugs.
On a digital clock showing 24 hour time, over a whole day, how many times does a 5 appear? Is it the same number for a 12 hour clock over a whole day?
How many shapes can you build from three red and two green cubes? Can you use what you've found out to predict the number for four red and two green?
The planet of Vuvv has seven moons. Can you work out how long it is between each super-eclipse?
Can you rearrange the biscuits on the plates so that the three biscuits on each plate are all different and there is no plate with two biscuits the same as two biscuits on another plate?
This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, involves open-topped boxes made with interlocking cubes. Explore the number of units of paint that are needed to cover the boxes. . . .
This challenge, written for the Young Mathematicians' Award, invites you to explore 'centred squares'.
When I fold a 0-20 number line, I end up with 'stacks' of numbers on top of each other. These challenges involve varying the length of the number line and investigating the 'stack totals'.
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?
Can you complete this calculation by filling in the missing numbers? In how many different ways can you do it?
This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, invites you to explore the different combinations of scores that you might get on these dart boards.
What is the smallest number of coins needed to make up 12 dollars and 83 cents?