Other tags that relate to Symmetry Challenge
Factors and multiples. Multiplication & division. Visualising. Investigations. Combinations. Working systematically. Practical Activity. Addition & subtraction. Generalising. Symmetry.There are 338 results
Broad Topics > Using, Applying and Reasoning about Mathematics > Working systematically
Symmetry Challenge
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Systematically explore the range of symmetric designs that can be created by shading parts of the motif below. Use normal square lattice paper to record your results.
Chocs, Mints, Jellies
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In a bowl there are 4 Chocolates, 3 Jellies and 5 Mints. Find a way to share the sweets between the three children so they each get the kind they like. Is there more than one way to do it?
Polo Square
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Arrange eight of the numbers between 1 and 9 in the Polo Square below so that each side adds to the same total.
Octa Space
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In the planet system of Octa the planets are arranged in the shape of an octahedron. How many different routes could be taken to get from Planet A to Planet Zargon?
Elf Suits
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
If these elves wear a different outfit every day for as many days as possible, how many days can their fun last?
Birthday Cake Candles
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This challenge involves calculating the number of candles needed on birthday cakes. It is an opportunity to explore numbers and discover new things.
This Pied Piper of Hamelin
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
Make Pairs
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Put 10 counters in a row. Find a way to arrange the counters into five pairs, evenly spaced in a row, in just 5 moves, using the rules.
Building with Rods
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In how many ways can you stack these rods, following the rules?
Crossing the Town Square
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
This tricky challenge asks you to find ways of going across rectangles, going through exactly ten squares.
Family Tree
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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.
Finding All Possibilities Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities focus on finding all possible solutions so if you work in a systematic way, you won't leave any out.
Finding All Possibilities Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities focus on finding all possible solutions so working in a systematic way will ensure none are left out.
Home City
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Use the clues to work out which cities Mohamed, Sheng, Tanya and Bharat live in.
Street Party
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The challenge here is to find as many routes as you can for a fence to go so that this town is divided up into two halves, each with 8 blocks.
Ordered Ways of Working Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps if you have an ordered approach.
Professional Circles
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Six friends sat around a circular table. Can you work out from the information who sat where and what their profession were?
More and More Buckets
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
In this challenge, buckets come in five different sizes. If you choose some buckets, can you investigate the different ways in which they can be filled?
Newspapers
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
When newspaper pages get separated at home we have to try to sort them out and get things in the correct order. How many ways can we arrange these pages so that the numbering may be different?
Wag Worms
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
When intergalactic Wag Worms are born they look just like a cube. Each year they grow another cube in any direction. Find all the shapes that five-year-old Wag Worms can be.
Cubes Here and There
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Possible Pieces
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Can you create jigsaw pieces which are based on a square shape, with at least one peg and one hole?
Seating Arrangements
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Sitting around a table are three girls and three boys. Use the clues to work out were each person is sitting.
Two Dots
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place eight dots on this diagram, so that there are only two dots on each straight line and only two dots on each circle.
Bunny Hop
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
What is the smallest number of jumps needed before the white rabbits and the grey rabbits can continue along their path?
Team Scream
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Crack the Code
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
The Zargoes use almost the same alphabet as English. What does this birthday message say?
Ancient Runes
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Ordered Ways of Working Upper Primary
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps to have an ordered approach.
Buying a Balloon
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Lolla bought a balloon at the circus. She gave the clown six coins to pay for it. What could Lolla have paid for the balloon?
3 Rings
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
If you have three circular objects, you could arrange them so that they are separate, touching, overlapping or inside each other. Can you investigate all the different possibilities?
Fake Gold
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Calendar Cubes
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Make a pair of cubes that can be moved to show all the days of the month from the 1st to the 31st.
Halloween Investigation
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Ana and Ross looked in a trunk in the attic. They found old cloaks and gowns, hats and masks. How many possible costumes could they make?
Watch Your Feet
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
I like to walk along the cracks of the paving stones, but not the outside edge of the path itself. How many different routes can you find for me to take?
Pasta Timing
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Ice Cream
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
You cannot choose a selection of ice cream flavours that includes totally what someone has already chosen. Have a go and find all the different ways in which seven children can have ice cream.
It Figures
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Suppose we allow ourselves to use three numbers less than 10 and multiply them together. How many different products can you find? How do you know you've got them all?
Bean Bags for Bernard's Bag
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
How could you put eight beanbags in the hoops so that there are four in the blue hoop, five in the red and six in the yellow? Can you find all the ways of doing this?
Whose Face?
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
These are the faces of Will, Lil, Bill, Phil and Jill. Use the clues to work out which name goes with each face.
Two on Five
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Take 5 cubes of one colour and 2 of another colour. How many different ways can you join them if the 5 must touch the table and the 2 must not touch the table?
Calcunos
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
If we had 16 light bars which digital numbers could we make? How will you know you've found them all?
Three by Three
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Arrange 3 red, 3 blue and 3 yellow counters into a three-by-three square grid, so that there is only one of each colour in every row and every column
Eight Queens
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Place eight queens on an chessboard (an 8 by 8 grid) so that none can capture any of the others.
Sweets in a Box
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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?
Three Way Mix Up
Age 5 to 11 Challenge Level:
Jack has nine tiles. He put them together to make a square so that two tiles of the same colour were not beside each other. Can you find another way to do it?
Room Doubling
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
Investigate the different ways you could split up these rooms so that you have double the number.
Painting Possibilities
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
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. . . .
Arranging the Tables
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
There are 44 people coming to a dinner party. There are 15 square tables that seat 4 people. Find a way to seat the 44 people using all 15 tables, with no empty places.
Two Egg Timers
Age 7 to 11 Challenge Level:
You have two egg timers. One takes 4 minutes exactly to empty and the other takes 7 minutes. What times in whole minutes can you measure and how?
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.