Activities and games
This section contains a series of resources designed to marry consolidation of mathematical techniques and understanding with good humour and entertainment, the goal being to motivate and interest students further in mathematics.
Some of these games may require a reasonable degree of preparation before they can be used; others need no more than to print off the game board and explain the instructions.
Number and algebra
Level 3
Basic multiplication Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, covering multiplication of integers from 2 to 12. By S Atkins (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 3
Equivalent fractions Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, identifying equivalent fractions. By A Greenwood (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 3
Positive and negative numbers arithmetic Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, covering basic arithmetic for small positive and negative integers. By M Ladak (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 4
BIDMAS Tarsia
A 16-piece triangular Tarsia, on the correct order of operations, including some very simple indices. By M Ladak (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 4
Rounding to powers of ten Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, rounding integers to powers of ten. By S Gilligan (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Collecting like terms Tarsia
A 12-piece rectangular Tarsia, collecting like terms in expressions involving a single linear variable and a constant term. By Lilybee (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Converting improper fractions Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, covering conversion between improper and mixed fractions. By A Greenwood (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Indices arithmetic Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia covering multiplication and division of indices. Mostly the same base, with some simple examples involving two variables. From Mr Barton Maths.
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Multiplying and dividing decimals Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, multiplying and dividing decimal numbers by whole numbers and other decimal numbers - up to two decimal places. By C Webb (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Multiplying decimals Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, multiplying decimal numbers by other decimal numbers - up to two decimal places. By O Kodilinye (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Place values Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, consolidating understanding of place values, through multiplying and dividing numbers by powers of ten. By A Greenwood (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Rounding Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, rounding numbers, to an amount of either decimal places or significant figures. By J Grainger (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 6
Continuing sequences Tarsia
A 16-piece square Tarsia, identifying the pattern in a sequence and continuing it. By J Hitchcock (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 6
Fraction, decimal and percentage conversions Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, covering conversion between fractions, decimals and percentages. By C Webb (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 6
Ratio Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia, covering the entire ratio topic: equivalent ratios, sharing in a given ratio and map ratios. This Tarsia also offers some consolidation of unit conversions, both metric and imperial. By H Spedding (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 6
Simple finding the rule for a sequence Tarsia
An 18-piece rhomboid Tarsia, finding the rule for the nth term of linear sequences. By A Greenwood (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 6
Simple linear equations Tarsia
A 16-piece triangular Tarsia, solving simple linear equations. By J Hitchcock and R Hare (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 7
Expanding single brackets Tarsia
An 18-piece triangular Tarsia, expanding single brackets, with both constant and variable factors. By J Grainger and year 8 students James, Jess, Cathy and George (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 7
Finding the rule for a sequence Tarsia
A 16-piece square Tarsia, finding the rule for the nth term of a sequence - including some reasonably challenging quadratic sequences. By S Atkins (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 7
Solving linear inequalities Tarsia
An 18-piece triangular Tarsia, solving linear equalities. By S Atkins (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Shape, space and measures
Level 4
Perimeter Tarsia
A 16-piece triangular Tarsia, covering perimeter calculations. It requires a knowledge of the number of sides of some low-order polygons. From Mathed Up!.
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Complements to 180° Tarsia
A 16-piece square Tarsia finding numbers that sum to a total of 180. By year 8 students Ashley, Sarah, Nick, Lewis and Theo (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
Complements to 360° Tarsia
A 24-piece hexagonal Tarsia finding numbers that sum to a total of 360. From Mr Barton Maths.
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)
Level 5
In the Future, Wars are Fought with Giant Laser Beams
Board game. Designed principally to focus on estimating and measuring angles, this game is also perfectly suited for consolidating work with bearings. Students will need a protractor, ruler, pencil and gameboard (any of the text files) to play; it is also recommended that you download the presentation (any of the presentation files) in order to explain the rules.
Games may last up to 40 minutes, but can easily be cut short to fit lengths of time down to a minimum of about 15 minutes.
Compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Office
Adobe PDF format (not editable)
Compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Office
Open Document Presentation format
A-level: Pure mathematics
Core 1
Basic differentiation Tarsia
An 18-piece rhomboid Tarsia, covering differentiation of simple polynomials with one or two terms. By A Freestone (Mathed Up!).
See information and help for Tarsia.
Editable Tarsia file for this activity (requires Formulator Tarsia to use)