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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Alphabet Blocks

Age 5 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow star
  • Problem
  • Getting Started
  • Student Solutions
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A group of children painted letters of the alphabet on some cube bricks. They did it in a special way. They painted A on one brick, B on two bricks, C on three bricks, and so on.

cube bricks


How many bricks had they painted by the time they had done the Cs?

How many bricks had they painted by the time they had done the Ds?

How many bricks had they painted by the time they had done the Es? And the Fs?

And the Gs?

And the Hs?

And the Is?

And the Js?

...

...?

Can you see why these totals are called triangle numbers?

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Prompt Cards

These two group activities use mathematical reasoning - one is numerical, one geometric.

Consecutive Numbers

An investigation involving adding and subtracting sets of consecutive numbers. Lots to find out, lots to explore.

Exploring Wild & Wonderful Number Patterns

EWWNP means Exploring Wild and Wonderful Number Patterns Created by Yourself! Investigate what happens if we create number patterns using some simple rules.

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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