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For younger learners

  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Walking the Squares

Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow starYellow star
  • Problem
  • Student Solutions
  • Teachers' Resources

So here's a special square of tiles to walk on!

stepping 1

The black square in the middle contains some very special prizes.
 
You can get the prizes by collecting tokens which are on each tile. So you have to step on as many tiles as possible.
BUT
You cannot go onto any tile more than once.
You are not allowed to step on more than two tiles of the same colour one after another.
So this path would be OK.  
 right
But this path is not allowed;
 wrong
Why? Because the path goes along $3$ blues which is not allowed, the blue to green is OK but then there are $4$ green tiles one this path next to each other and that is also not allowed.

Your challenge is to find a path from anywhere on the outside of the square to the black square in the middle, following the rules above and trying to step on as many tiles as possible.

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Counting Counters

Take a counter and surround it by a ring of other counters that MUST touch two others. How many are needed?

Cuisenaire Squares

These squares have been made from Cuisenaire rods. Can you describe the pattern? What would the next square look like?

Doplication

We can arrange dots in a similar way to the 5 on a dice and they usually sit quite well into a rectangular shape. How many altogether in this 3 by 5? What happens for other sizes?

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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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