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  • Early Years Foundation Stage

The Thousands Game

Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow star
Primary curriculum
  • Problem
  • Getting Started
  • Student Solutions
  • Teachers' Resources

The Thousands Game printable sheet

 

Class 3 were playing a game. There were ten cards with the digits $0$ to $9$ on them.

 

digit cards 1 to 9

 

 

 

These cards were put into a bag and players took out four cards and made a number out of them. At first they made the highest number they could. Sinita took out

 
digit cards 3, 8, 2 and 5  and made  8532
 

Then they made the lowest number they could. Jamie took out

digit cards 5, 0, 4 and 7  and made  0457

"You can't put zero at the beginning of a number," objected Paul. The class discussed this and decided that Jamie had made four hundred and fifty-seven.

Next they played to make the highest even number. Jill took out

digit cards 7, 8, 6 and 3

and Vincent took out

digit cards 4, 2, 9 and 1

Who won? Why?

Then they played to make the highest odd number. Belinda took out

digit cards 4, 0, 6 and 9

and Ali took out

digit cards 5, 2, 1 and 7

Who won? Why?

Next they played to make the lowest even number. Rohan took out

digit cards 8, 1, 5 and 4

and Ben took out

digit cards 7, 0, 3 and 9

Who won? Why?

The last game they played was to make the closest number to $5000$. Alice took out

digit cards 7, 8, 4 and 9

and Chloe took out

digit cards 1, 0, 3 and 5

Who won? Why?
 

Play some of the different versions of this game with a friend. Which digits are the most helpful? Why?

Once you've played this game a few times, have a go at playing Nice or Nasty. This game is very similar except you draw and place the digits one at a time, so you'll need to think carefully about where to put each one!
 

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ABC

In the multiplication calculation, some of the digits have been replaced by letters and others by asterisks. Can you reconstruct the original multiplication?

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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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