Four children make statements about their relative ages but one child is lying. The challenge is to order the children from the youngest to the oldest.

A diagram is shown with horses arranged in fields around a rectangle. There are four challenges to move the horses to fulfill given criteria. A worksheet is also included for students to record their answers.

The magic of…is a collection of four resources, produced by Queen Mary College at the University of London, designed for teachers to use in the classroom with the intention of making learning engaging and entertaining. The four resources are all linked to the relevant curricula and provide inspiration when teaching...

A floor plan is shown from a museum. The challenge is to place two security guards so that they will be able to keep watch on the whole museum

This puzzle provides an introduction to simultaneous equations in three variables. Three combinations of coins are shown, together with the total value for each pair. The challenge is to calculate the value of each coin.

This task is designed to assess how well students understand various aspects of the number system.

There are a series of short tasks on using a calculator, working with fractions, directed numbers, and extending a multiplication fact.

As an example:

12345679 x 27 = 333 333 333

and...

With just one fold of a square piece of paper, is it possible to make a triangle and a quadrilateral? Two quadrilaterals? A triangle and a pentagon? A further challenge asks students to explore the combination of shapes that can be made by using two folds of a square.

This puzzle provides a gentle introduction to simultaneous equations. Three pictures are given that show different combinations of three items from a menu, together with the total price for each meal. The challenge is to work out the cost of each item.

This problem looks at fencing chickens using pens. The challenge is to work out how many lengths are needed to create six separate pens for the roosters.

This combination problem builds up from combinations of three socks to six socks. Can students find a pattern and use it to work out how many socks would be needed to ensure a different pair was available each day for a month?

A sheet is shown containing six calculations that have been partially obscured by juice spilled on the sheet. The challenge is to work out what the calculations were, and their solutions.

This problem provides a gentle introduction to simultaneous equations. Three bags of shopping are shown: two have prices and one does not. The challenge is to find out the price of the final bag of shopping.

After thinking of a number, a series of steps is given that result in an answer that is independent of the initial number. There is scope to use fractions and directed numbers in the problem....

These activities, from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) publication ‘Thinking for Ourselves’, provide a variety of contexts in which students are encouraged to think for themselves.

Activity 1: In the bag – More or less requires students to record how many more or...

This resource, produced by the Centre for Teaching Mathematics at the University of Plymouth, contains ten ‘puzzles to get the brain working!’

Each puzzle is designed to make students think laterally, consider the question carefully and not give the most obvious answer. The puzzles could be used as lesson...