I love the idea of number puzzles and word puzzles. I think they are a great activity for kids because there is always an element of logic and often an element of trial and error (which I think is important because kids will often do a Maths problem and get it incorrect the first time but they need to learn not to give up and to continue trying). So I was very happy when I spotted Schofield & Sims had both a Numbers Puzzle Book and a Word puzzle Book for Key Stage 2 ages – I am a massive fan of the Schofield & Sims workbooks. They are always well written and set out in a logical manner with examples getting progressively harder. And they always include a brief explanation at the top of the page (and yes answers are at the back of the books)
And this Number Puzzle Book does just that. For each type of problem there are three different double pages – each double page gets progressively more difficult.
They also include a nice range of different number puzzles:
- Latin Squares
- Sudoku
- Arithmagons
- Magic Squares
- Multiplication pyramids
- Grand totals
- Kakuro
I wanted this book for my nine-year old. He started with the easy examples which are perfect for the kids to figure out how they are going to solve these types of problems and great to practice on before they try harder examples. Once he got the hang of it he moved onto the medium challenges (it is still a fairly newish book and we have not tried the most difficult challenges yet).
By working through these puzzles kids do practice the basic 4 operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and I actually now think the multplication pyramids are brilliant for times table practice. But it is more than just the four operations there is logic involved and number sense. Understanding place value also comes into the puzzles.
I think this Number Puzzle Book is a brilliant addition to normal maths activities. It is fun and perfect for Friday Maths or keeping busy on a train ride (yes I am looking forward to going on train trips again) or car trip.
You can get the Number Puzzle Book directly from the Schofield & Sims, at your local bookstore (when they open again) or from Amazon – Number Puzzles: Key Stage 2, Years 3 – 6
Admin Bit – I was sent our Number Puzzle book from Schofield & Sims together with a few other books. It entirely up to us which books we use, when we use them and if we decide to include them in a post.
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