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10 Math Brain Teasers

“Math is boring,” “Math is too difficult for me,” “I don’t like math.” Have you ever heard your child saying any of these? Unfortunately, math really tops the list of the most problematic subjects. Will the kid excel in it or not — the result eventually depends on the learning process.

Math brain teasers are fun and productive ways to spice up their studying. So, what are some of the best tasks to use? Find them in this guide.

How Do Brain Teasers Help Kids to Learn Math?

Brain teasers help kids break down a math problem into chunks and approach it from different angles to find the best-fitting solution. It improves their logical thinking and trouble-shooting abilities, along with boosting confidence and resilience.

Let’s dig into potential benefits and discuss them more:

• While dealing with brain teasers, kids must note the smallest details to develop the proper solution. It makes them extra attentive and critical towards the information they process.
• Kids become more excited about the subject overall. Brain teasers in math perfectly complement the gamification learning model, grasping your youngsters’ attention and making them crave more.
• The best teaching methods overall commonly involve creativity. Brain teasers do just that! Since they usually require unconventional solutions, children must actively employ out-of-the-box and non-standard thinking to tackle them right.
• When completed in groups, those teasers can improve communicative skills and teach your kid to coordinate with others better.

Interactive Math Lessons with Brighterly

As gamification becomes a new learning standard, more online and offline platforms try to include it in the study plans. But for some, game-form studying is the very core of learning programs. One of those sites is Brighterly.

But what things do make Brighterly stand out among tutoring platforms? No, it’s not just the inclusion of math brain teasers. Indeed, there are many other reasons to list:

• A tailored approach cherished by the platform means that your child goes through a sequence of tests so that tutors can develop a study plan that fits them perfectly. They consider practically everything — current grade, studying goals, comfortable pace, learning style, etc. Brighterly claims personalized learning as their principle, and they follow it to the fullest.
• 1:1 lessons guarantee that all teacher’s attention goes to your kid. There are no distractions or hustles — they can take as much time as needed to perfect any specific topic. Plus, this creates a friendly environment where they can reveal their full potential.
• Children are encouraged to ask and understand “Why” instead of “What.” When combined with the lively game form, this method has proven effective even for the most challenging topics.

Does this approach seem to fit your schooler? Then, why not start learning today with a Brighterly free demo lesson?

Best 10 Math Brain Teasers

The ten best teasers include:

1. Clockwork Challenge
2. Shape Hunt
3. Money Math Maze
4. Pattern Recognition
5. Cutting Across a Cross
6. Coin Conundrum
7. Birthday Math
8. Number Challenge
9. Mind Reader
10. What’s Special About the Number?

Clockwork Challenge

Only a few guess that usual clocks can be used for fun brain teaser math problems. Yes, one just needs to track the angle formed by the clock’s hour hand and one-minute hand. When done right, this exercise will strengthen the child’s angle conceptualization.

Shape Hunt

For this game, kids explore diverse forms hidden behind their usual objects. Ask them about the form of their usual cupboard, table, window, clock, or picture. Such an exercise can tick several boxes. Firstly, it strengthens visuospatial perception. Second, it shows kids that shapes from textbook pages are literally everywhere in the real world.

Money Math Maze

Fun brain teasers for kids require you to create and print out a scheme with separate sections showing how much money the child can win or lose as they go through it. Are they taking a specific window? They must complete the operation and state how much money they own now.

Pattern Recognition

For his activity, children receive diverse number or picture sequences. After studying those, they are encouraged to guess how to extend them. It’s where the principle “Why not What” is released to the fullest.

Pattern Recognition Worksheets

Does the schooler face challenges with patterns? Here’s some theoretical material from Brighterly to help them review and enhance their knowledge:

• Odd And Even Numbers Worksheets
• Acute Angle — Definition, Types, Examples
• Patterns — Definition With Examples
• Comparing Numbers Worksheets

But hey, those above materials also include a good portion of printable math brain teasers. Handy worksheets are ideal for practicing patterns. Check out some of the vibrant task examples below.

Check how kids can train patterns while completing sequences of funny images.

Similarly, they can train counting with visual associations.

Cutting Across a Cross

Ask the kid to draw a cross on paper. Then, encourage them to divide the cross with lines into as many pieces as possible. How many pieces did they get? Turn it into a fun competition as they try to exceed their previous results.

Coin Conundrum

Tell the child to imagine that they have two coins that equal the specific number (take 30, for example). What coins can they own? Once they tackle easier equations, make them more complex. Thus, you can ask them what the value of those coins will be if one of them doesn’t equal a nickel.

Birthday Math

This one belongs to those math brain puzzles that will make your kid believe in magic. Just ask them to do this birthday trick:

1. Take the number 7 and multiply it by the month of their birth;
2. Subtract 1 from the result;
3. Multiply the received number by 13;
4. Add the day of their birth and then add 3;
5. Multiply that number by 11;
6. From the result, first, subtract the month and then the day of birth;
7. Divide it by 10;
8. Add 11;
9. Divide the final number by 100.

What they get in the end is the day of their birth.

Number Challenge

Ask the kid to create all possible math equations with any four numbers. For example, you can take 1, 2, 3, and 4. They can use only the = sign and + or – for the task.

Mind Reader

For math brain teasers like this one, you will have to work with your kid. Ask the child to hold a calculator and do some operations. Once ready, follow the flow:

1. The child should think about any number from 1 to 20 and write it down. Ask them not to show it to you;
2. Then, they should enter the number into the calculator and multiply it by 3;
3. Add the secret number again, and subtract 5 from what was received; 
4. Multiply by 3 for two times; 
5. Add the secret number once more;
6. Subtract the number of your favorite month (they shouldn’t share that number with you);
7. Multiply by 3 for three times; 
8. Add the secret number, then subtract the favorite day of the month (again, they shouldn’t share it); 
9. Then, ask the child to show the number on the calculator to you. Your task is to guess it. But here’s the trick: 
   1. If the result is negative, the secret number to guess is 1.
   2. If the result contains three digits, the number you need is 2.
   3. In all other cases, you should ignore the last three digits and add 2 to get the secret number!

What’s Special About the Number?

It’s one of those fun math brain teasers in middle school. Here’s how it goes: present the kid with the number 8,549,176,320 and ask them to write down everything they think is unique about it. 

The correct answer is that it lists digits in the alphabetic order (eight, five, four, nine, one, …), but the trick is to make them ponder and analyze. You’ll be amused with the answers they can provide.

Math Puzzles For Kids

The best math brain puzzles for kids are:

• Fraction Puzzlers
• Money Puzzles
• Rounding Puzzles
• Time Riddles
• Geometry Riddles

Fraction Puzzlers

Fraction puzzles are the best way to boost the topic knowledge with fun. Usually, the kid will have to deal with a question accompanied by a colorful illustration and several answers. Their task is to choose the correct one.

Get fun fraction puzzles with this Brighterly worksheet.

Money Puzzles

Counting is a basic math topic, which kids must perfect. It has real-world applications when studied through the prism of dealing with money. This way, your child can master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division through something familiar.

Check out these money math brain teasers with answers.

Rounding Puzzles

While dealing with numbers, kids should also learn to round up decimals to the nearest whole number. Plus, they should know about the tenth and hundreds. Even though the information seems like a lot of studying, it can be easily acquired with the correct approach.

Check out these beginner to 5th-grade brain teaser worksheets.

Time Riddles

What seems straightforward often evokes difficulties. One such tricky topic is time telling. In fact, kids have to know a lot to acquire it right. Counting to 60 and knowing measurements are only a few things to list.

Want to give the child some extra practice? Use these time riddles from Brighterly.

Geometry Riddles

Geometry often causes so many difficulties, especially for those who have only started learning it. The solution? Constant practice with the fun brain teasers for middle school.

It’s just what the kid can get with these tasks.

Brain Teasers for Elementary Students

Check out these exciting math riddles for elementary students:

• When does 9 + 5 = 2?

The equation words if we think about time: 9 a.m. + 5 hours = 2 p.m.

• What number will always give the same number when multiplied?

Zero.

• How many sides are there in a circle?

Two: inside and outside.

• How many times can you subtract five from 25?

One time: 25 – 5 = 20. So, you’re no longer dealing with the number 25.

• There’s only one 5-letter word, which becomes shorter when you add two letters to it. What is it?

The word “short.” Add “e” and “r,” and it will become shorter.

Brain Teasers for 2nd Graders

These are the fun elementary brain teasers for 2nd graders:

• Crayons
• Favorite Numbers
• Circle

Crayons

I have more than 12 crayons but less than 16. The number of my crayons is even. How many of them do I have?

Answer: 14.

Favorite Numbers

Jack has several favorite numbers. What are they if:

• The numbers are odd;
• Each of them has two digits;
• The sum of the digits is 6.

Answer: 15 and 51.

Circle

How many kids are standing in a circle if the 4th child is standing against the 13th?

Answer: 18.

Brain Teasers for Middle Schoolers

The best middle school math brain teasers are as follows:

• Lorenzo was born in 1988. In 1968, he would have been 20 years old. How is this possible?

Lorenzo was born in 1988 B.C.

• An elderly woman passes away on the day she celebrates her 24th birthday. How is this possible?

She was born on the 29th of February on the leap year. So, she is actually 96 years old.

• A sphere possesses three of them, a circle has two, and a point is characterized by zero. What is being referred to?

Dimensions.

• What is the least whole number equal to seven times the total of its digits?

21.

• Divide 30 by half and add 10. Which number will you get?

70.

Math Brain Teasers for the 5th Grade

You can use some of these 5th-grade brain teasers for your kid:

• Get a 1000
• Counting Apples
• Find a Positive Number

Get a 1000

How do you use addition to add eight 8th and get a 1000 in the result?

Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8.

Counting Apples

There are three apples on the table and you take two of them. How many apples do you have now?

Answer: 2.

Find a Positive Number

What two positive whole numbers yield a single-digit result when multiplied and a two-digit result when summed?

Answer: 1 and 9.

5 Benefits Of Math Brain Teasers For Kids

The main five benefits of math brain teasers for kids are better:

• Concentration Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Memory Retention
• Mind Exercise
• Confidence

Concentration Skills

Keeping kids focused when learning math can be daunting. The best solution you can come up with is creative exercises like those math brain teasers for kids we’ve discussed above. Thus, kids tend to focus more on the material they are about to learn and achieve better concentration.

Critical Thinking Skills

With riddles, an obvious answer is rarely correct. So, these tasks encourage children to think outside the box and gain perspective while solving easy math brain teasers.

Memory Retention

Each sentence in a well-crafted brain teaser has a valid point to help children answer correctly. If they miss one word, they may fail with whole math brain teaser questions. As children learn to dig deeper and link all the relevant concepts, they improve their memory skills.

Mind Exercise

Brain teasers are just what is meant — exercises to train your brain. Regular exercises teach schoolers to stay alert and mentally ready for problems. Thus, they become sharper and better at math overall.

Confidence

When kids solve a creative riddle, they feel proud of their achievements. Their success acknowledges how much they have gone through to reach their current skill level.

Conclusion

Brain teasers maths puzzles can be a powerful solution to spice up usual lessons. They are fun, encouraging, and multi-functional — think about all the benefits the child can develop with them. Eventually, they can turn learning math concepts into a fun game. And what can be the better solution?

Want gamification to become the very core of your kid’s learning? It’s possible with Brighterly! Book the free lesson and experience all the benefits today.