There is a long tradition of creating mazes throughout history and across the world. This article gives details of mazes you can visit and those that you can tackle on paper.
Arrange the four number cards on the grid, according to the rules,
to make a diagonal, vertical or horizontal line.
What do you notice about the date 03.06.09? Or 08.01.09? This
challenge invites you to investigate some interesting dates
In this matching game, you have to decide how long different events take.
Use the information to describe these marbles. What colours must be
on marbles that sparkle when rolling but are dark inside?
A package contains a set of resources designed to develop
students’ mathematical thinking. This package places a
particular emphasis on “being systematic” and is
designed to meet. . . .
Can you find which shapes you need to put into the grid to make the
totals at the end of each row and the bottom of each column?
A particular technique for solving Sudoku puzzles, known as "naked pair", is explained in this easy-to-read article.
A game for 2 people. Take turns placing a counter on the star. You win when you have completed a line of 3 in your colour.
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?
This cube has ink on each face which leaves marks on paper as it is rolled. Can you work out what is on each face and the route it has taken?
Can you see who the gold medal winner is? What about the silver medal winner and the bronze medal winner?
Start with three pairs of socks. Now mix them up so that no
mismatched pair is the same as another mismatched pair. Is there
more than one way to do it?
Try this matching game which will help you recognise different ways of saying the same time interval.
This tricky challenge asks you to find ways of going across rectangles, going through exactly ten squares.
Make your own double-sided magic square. But can you complete both
sides once you've made the pieces?
First Connect Three game for an adult and child. Use the dice numbers and either addition or subtraction to get three numbers in a straight line.
Follow the clues to find the mystery number.
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?
Using the statements, can you work out how many of each type of
rabbit there are in these pens?
Can you use the information to find out which cards I have used?
How many rectangles can you find in this shape? Which ones are
differently sized and which are 'similar'?
If we had 16 light bars which digital numbers could we make? How
will you know you've found them all?
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.
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.
Make a pair of cubes that can be moved to show all the days of the
month from the 1st to the 31st.
Alice and Brian are snails who live on a wall and can only travel
along the cracks. Alice wants to go to see Brian. How far is the
shortest route along the cracks? Is there more than one way to go?
What do the digits in the number fifteen add up to? How many other
numbers have digits with the same total but no zeros?
In this problem it is not the squares that jump, you do the jumping! The idea is to go round the track in as few jumps as possible.
Using all ten cards from 0 to 9, rearrange them to make five prime
numbers. Can you find any other ways of doing it?
Can you cover the camel with these pieces?
Tim's class collected data about all their pets. Can you put the
animal names under each column in the block graph using the
Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these
mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.
What happens when you try and fit the triomino pieces into these
What could the half time scores have been in these Olympic hockey
Place the numbers 1 to 8 in the circles so that no consecutive
numbers are joined by a line.
Place eight queens on an chessboard (an 8 by 8 grid) so that none
can capture any of the others.
Investigate the different ways you could split up these rooms so
that you have double the number.
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?
These activities lend themselves to systematic working in the sense that it helps to have an ordered approach.
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?
On my calculator I divided one whole number by another whole number and got the answer 3.125 If the numbers are both under 50, what are they?
This problem is based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Investigate the different numbers of people and rats there could have been if you know how many legs there are altogether!
This challenge is to design different step arrangements, which must
go along a distance of 6 on the steps and must end up at 6 high.
In how many ways can you stack these rods, following the rules?
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?
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
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.
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?