Lure of the Labyrinth... Yes, of course it's a game!

This week's mental challenge comes from the Lure of the Labyrinth. The interesting part of this game is that it has a separate 'Play the Puzzle' section; the link is just under the 'Play the Game' legend.

If you're not really into playing long games, you can just play the puzzles. You won't get any game credits by playing the puzzles outside of the main game, but they are fun on their own!

You must sign up to play either the game or puzzles but logging in is immediate, with no hunting around for a confirmation email. Click "Sign up here!", create a username and password and off you go!

Have fun!

And let me know if you prefer the game or the puzzles.

Khan Academy for Primary Kids

Last week, I was surprised to learn that none of my students had heard of Khan Academy. Although mainly aimed at secondary topics, many subjects, such as mathematics, start at the very beginning with basic arithmetic.

Every topic has a short video lecture and a comments section to clarify any confusing points. Although the videos can be watched without logging in, it really is worth creating an account as you can keep track of your progress with the Knowledge Map. This shows you all the topics you have completed, those that you need to go back to and those new topics that follow logically from those you have already done. Khan Academy is now huge and the Knowledge Map will help you through the forest.

Play Countdown

One of the most popular and long-running daytime gameshows in the UK is Countdown. Broadcast since 1982, each programme has two contestants pitting their wits against each other, a ticking clock and some word and number puzzles.

The word games involve finding the longest word you can from 9 random letters. In the actual shows, the contestants take turns in selecting how many vowels and consonants there are.

The number games involve using arithmetic operations to reach a random 3-digit target number using 6 randomly selected numbers.

The very last round is known as the 'conundrum', which involves unravelling a 9-letter anagram

The MA Primary Maths Challenge (Mathematics 1)

 One good place to start is the Mathematical Association's Primary Maths Challenge page.

There is one online PMC that is automatically marked at the end of the test. Try it out and let me know your score! Don't forget that this is not a mental maths test - you are expected to have pen and paper handy to do many of the calculations.

You can also download past paper, but make sure you try each paper before looking at the answers!