Numeracy problems to solve for Key Stage 1, 2 and 3

Here are some puzzles for the whole family. When you've solved them, try them out on your friends.

Puzzle A

Speedy, Busy and Cheeky are three of Father Christmas' elves who live in Christmas Woods.

One elf wears a red hat, one a silver hat and one a gold hat, but we don't know elf is which.

We do know that Speedy and the elf with the gold hat don't like each other much. Busy likes the elf with the red hat and sometimes lets him borrow his gold hat.

Which elf has the silver hat?
Which elf has the gold hat?
Which elf has the red hat?

Puzzle B

It's time to decorate for Christmas. All the decorations have been kept in a special cabinet which has lots of drawers.

The first drawer to be opened has to be the one with the angel in. Only then is it possible to open the other drawers.

The puzzle is to find out from the following clues the drawer in which the angel is kept.

Here are the clues

1. The drawer containing a Snowman has more than one drawer above it.
2. The Angel is not in the smallest drawer.
3. The Father Christmas is in a drawer that borders only tow other drawers.
4. The drawer containing the baubles has a front which is large square.
5. The Angel drawer does not border more than 4 other drawers.
6. The drawer containing the fairy lights is directly above the one with the baubles.
7. The smallest drawer does not contain the Snowman.
8. The drawer with only one side bordering others contains the tinsel.
9. The Star is in the drawer above the smallest drawer.

There are several ways to solve a puzzle like this. One way might be to use a table like this to record the build up of information contained in the clues using ticks and crosses.

E.g.The first clue tells us that there is a snowman in one of the drawers but it isn't in drawer 1,2,3,4 or 5 as these drawers don't have more than one drawer above them. So we can record that information by putting crosses on the grid s shown. So we know the snowman can only be 6,7 or 8.

When you have found which drawer the Angel is in you can tell which drawers all the other Christmas items are in?

Which drawer is empty?

Have lots of fun trying this puzzle out on others.