Free Maths Puzzles for Kids That Build 11+ Reasoning

Some of the hardest questions on an 11+ maths paper are not really about one topic. They are puzzles. Which numbers fit? Which order do the steps go in? What has to be true for the answer to work?

Children get better at those by solving puzzles, a few minutes at a time, until looking for the logic becomes a habit. So we built four free maths puzzles, and they sit on the maths games page alongside a set of 11+ practice games, with no sign up needed for any of them.

Here is what each puzzle asks your child to do, and the maths it quietly builds.

Squared Away

The grid has numbers scattered across it. Your child splits the whole grid into rectangles so that every rectangle holds exactly one number, and that number is the rectangle's area. A 6 could sit in a 3 by 2 rectangle, a 2 by 3 or a 6 by 1, and the rest of the grid decides which one works.

It is a times tables puzzle in disguise. Every rectangle is a factor pair of the number inside it, and a column beside the grid writes each one out as a multiplication, such as 3 × 2 = 6, so your child sees the sum behind every shape they draw. A child who knows that 12 is 3 × 4, 2 × 6 and 1 × 12 has three shapes to try straight away.

There are 50 levels, from a small 5 by 5 grid up to 9 by 9, and every one has exactly one solution, with hints for when your child gets stuck and an undo button for when they change their mind. Play Squared Away.

Missing Signs

Each line is a number sentence with the signs taken out, such as 4 □ 3 □ 2 = 14. Your child drops in +, −, × or ÷ until the sentence is true. Here the answer is 4 × 3 + 2 = 14.

The first levels use two numbers and only adding and subtracting. By the last ones there are four numbers and all four signs, and the order of operations matters, so multiplying and dividing have to be done before adding and subtracting. That is BIDMAS, practised without a single worksheet.

There are 50 levels of five lines each, and every line has exactly one right answer, so there is no arguing about whether a different answer counts. Play Missing Signs.

Sudoku for Kids

Sudoku has no arithmetic in it at all, but it trains the kind of thinking that 11+ problem solving questions rely on. If this square can only be a 3, what does that force in the squares around it?

The levels start on a small 4 by 4 grid, move up to 6 by 6 and finish on the classic 9 by 9, with 60 levels in all. There are notes for pencilling in the numbers a square could be, a check button and hints. Play Sudoku for Kids.

Countdown

The numbers round gives your child six numbers and a target, and they combine them with the four operations to reach it. It is the same thinking as Missing Signs, with more choices and no boxes to guide them. There is a letters round too, for a change of subject.

Play Countdown, or read why the Countdown numbers game builds maths fluency.

The 11+ practice games

These four target the parts of the 11+ that are not maths.

• Shape Sleuth, non-verbal reasoning practice, including matrices and hidden shapes.
• Cube Nets, where your child folds a flat net into a cube, which is much easier to picture once you have watched it happen.
• Spatial Reasoning, with paper folds, punched holes and cube questions, and a timed test when your child is ready for one.
• Verbal Reasoning, covering synonyms, letter codes, analogies and more.

For Year 6, the free SATs spelling test reads each sentence aloud and your child spells the missing word, in the same format as the real KS2 spelling paper.

How to fit puzzles into the week

1. Keep it short and regular. Ten minutes on most days does more than an hour at the weekend, because the habit of looking for the logic is what you are building.
2. Let them get stuck for a while. The thinking happens in the minute before the answer arrives, so wait before offering a hint.
3. Move up a level only when the current one feels easy. A puzzle that is slightly too hard teaches more than one that is far too hard.
4. Use puzzles alongside topic practice. A puzzle sharpens reasoning, but it will not teach fractions. Pair it with the free maths practice pages or the Maths Skills Lab for the topics themselves.

Start with Squared Away on level 1 tonight. Everything else is on the maths games page, grouped into number games, puzzles, 11+ practice and brain games.

Aadam, SHLC Tutors